New Delhi: Adar Poonawalla, the Serum Institute of India said on Monday that a minimum of 100 million doses of Covishield – a Covid- 19 vaccine to be 90 per cent effective under certain conditions – will be available by January. On Monday morning pharma giant AstraZeneca, who developed the vaccine candidate jointly with the University of Oxford, said it could be around 90 per cent effective when administered over two doses separated by a month. This is based on data from trials in Britain and Brazil.

Hundreds of millions could be ready by the end of February, he said. A single dose (two are recommended at this stage) will cost up to ₹ 1,000 if purchased from the pharmacy, but the government will buy 90 per cent of the supply at ₹ 250 per dose, he explained. Poonawalla, whose company has an agreement with the government to mass-manufacture the vaccine, said around 40 million doses had already been produced.

He also said that “It will be another two-three months for the vaccine to be available in India. By January we will have 100 million doses, minimum. The target set by the government is 300 to 400 million doses by July. We are putting a MRP of ₹ 1,000 – for the private market it will be around ₹ 500 or 600 (+ ₹ 200 for the distributor) and ₹ 250 or less for the government”.  More crucially, the Covishield vaccine works out to be cheaper than the two other candidates that have released trial data in recent days – Pfizer and Moderna. It can also be transported and stored at fridge temperatures; experts say this makes it easier to distribute, especially in poor countries.