At $2.06 per dose, India pays the least for AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine

The world over, more than 100 countries have ordered Covid-19 vaccines from about 18 vaccine-makers to date, according to data maintained by Duke Global Health Innovation Center. 

The price paid by different governments for a vaccine dose — including for the same vaccine — varies across countries, Unicef data shows.

For instance, the price of the AstraZeneca vaccine — the vaccine sold the most globally, with orders for 2.4 billion shots to date — varies from $2 to $6 per dose. 

India has got this vaccine at $2.06 per dose, the cheapest in the world. The Unicef website says the price at which India bought it ranges from $2.06 to $2.76 per dose. The AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured by Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII) and is called Covishield in the country.

Severely affected countries such as South Africa and Brazil have paid $5.25 per dose of this vaccine. India’s neighbours like Bangladesh and Nepal have also bought it at a higher price. 

SII and Bharat Biotech, the other vaccine manufacturer in India, have expressed concern over the low price tag and have said the government should pay more per dose. SII CEO Adar Poonawalla has said that they would sell one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at Rs 1,000 ($14), if the policy allows for commercial sale. 

The price variation for other vaccines, especially those developed by Moderna and Pfizer, is even wider. 

According to news reports, while the US paid less than $20 per dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech va­c­c­ine, Israel paid $24 per dose. Unicef data sho­ws that African Union bought the Pfizer vaccine at $6.75 per dose, the cheapest among others.

The US bought the Moderna vaccine at $15 per shot, while the European Union procured it at $18. Israel and the UK, which have been the fastest vaccinators in the world, have paid as high as $33 and $23.5 per dose, respectively, for Moderna’s mRNA-1273. 

Pricing of Covaxin, indigenously developed by Bharat Biotech, is not available for other countries. India has paid $4 per dose for it, according to Unicef data. Vietnam-developed Nanogen and Nov­avax made in the US are also priced below $5. 

The Johnson & Johnson vaccine (Janssen), the one by Sanofi-GSK and Russia’s Sputnik-V, developed by Gamaleya Research Institute, have been sold to countries at close to $10. Hungary is reported to have bought Sputnik-V at $20 per dose. BBIBP-CorV, the shot developed by Beijing Institute of Biological Products and Sinopharm is likely the costliest so far, ranging between $36 and $44 a dose.