[scooby05]

Originally Posted by yosbert

If I understood the government announcements correctly, private hospitals will be sourcing the shots directly from the drug companies from May 1. This will perhaps mean the government limit of Rs. 250 per shot will go away and hospitals will be free to charge whatever amount they deem fit. This will also be the way to introduce the more expensive vaccines (Sputnik, Pfizer, etc) into the market, I suppose.

Yes this is my news too, once its opened up, private can get the Pfizer/Sputnik/Moderna and what have you, at prices that make it viable for them. People who want free will stand in lines at Public hospitals/centres, or at some clinics who still continue with Covishield/Covaxin sourced from GOI pool.
A normal Pneumonia vaccine from Pfizer costs 1200+ technician charges, so guess, in private if the Covid vaccines are administered at around 1500, it would be viable for a lot many people who would'nt mind avoiding the chaos at Public hospitals.

[Karvel]

Originally Posted by itwasntme

With a zillion cases in BLR now, I am thinking not to wait for 6 weeks for my second Covishield shot, but to go at 4 weeks only. Is this advisable given the lower efficacy at 4 weeks?

The 1 May announcement also worries me that we will run out of vaccines.

Don't rush on that. Body needs the time to get the antibodies cycle to be run through. All readings done so far indicate a good increase in efficacy if second dose taken post 6-7 weeks gap.

[Kln]

Originally Posted by scooby05

Yes this is my news too, once its opened up, private can get the Pfizer/Sputnik/Moderna and what have you, at prices that make it viable for them. People who want free will stand in lines at Public hospitals/centres, or at some clinics who still continue with Covishield/Covaxin sourced from GOI pool.
A normal Pneumonia vaccine from Pfizer costs 1200+ technician charges, so guess, in private if the Covid vaccines are administered at around 1500, it would be viable for a lot many people who would'nt mind avoiding the chaos at Public hospitals.

You can't just want an injection and get it. There are supply side insurmountable (as of now) constraints. Free market isn't "free". Pfizer and Moderna have existing contracts to fulfil. They have committed to supply at least full doses for 12 countries till the end of this year. All of them have already paid hefty amount of money upfront. Unless they seriously ramp up their production capacity, India isn't going to get any of their vaccines in the near future. The reason we are in this mess in the first place is 2 fold - the lukewarm success of the existing AstraZeneca vaccine which prompted higher demand for others, and the fact that the Indian govt decided to put all its eggs in one basket.

The announcement is an eyewash, sorry to be negative. The govt is washing it's hands off the mess and passing the buck to state govts and private players.


Also, the prices are way off. European govts are currently purchasing the Pfizer vaccine at 20 € per shot. Considering that 1 EUR = 90 - 93 INR, your total cost comes to around 2000 rs. PER shot IF you were a government looking to purchase in bulk. Add to that local taxes and the fact that this is the private, unsubsidized space you're looking at, the cost will be close to 4500-5000 per shot, and around 10k Rs in total. It may not sound unaffordable to a lot of people, but it does put a dent in the pockets of a lot of us. Also, this is assuming Pfizer/moderna are motivated enough to make their vaccines available at the earliest. European govts are currently placing orders for 2023, and they have to be in line.

[KrisTvpm]

Got my 1st shot of Covishield.

Luckily a camp was organised by the city corporation in association with Apollo hospitals, within my apartment premises.

Registered on Aarogya Setu/Cowin while waiting for my shot, got a unique ref ID by SMS, waited for about 30min for my turn, showed the unique ID + identification document used to register to the official, paid Rs.250/- and got the shot.

The shot itself was a painless affair, but after about 12hrs started mild fever/body pain/lack of appetite/pain at injection site etc. which lasted for another 24hrs.

Downloaded the vaccination certificate from Cowin desktop site using the unique ref ID (after say 10 or so failed attempts, also couldn't somehow get it from the AarogyaSetu app), kept it as ref. for my 2nd shot after 4-6 weeks.

Overall the process was quite convenient for me.

[werfish]

Cowin only shows some pincodes in Bengaluru. I registered for the first dose through Arogya Sethu, it doesn't allow scheduling for second dose.Anyone has idea on how to go about.

[ninjatalli]

Originally Posted by yosbert

This will also be the way to introduce the more expensive vaccines (Sputnik, Pfizer, etc) into the market, I suppose.

Originally Posted by scooby05

Yes this is my news too, once its opened up, private can get the Pfizer/Sputnik/Moderna and what have you, at prices that make it viable for them. People who want free will stand in lines at Public hospitals/centres, or at some clinics who still continue with Covishield/Covaxin sourced from GOI pool.

Nopes - that is incorrect. Only the three vaccines will be available (Covishield Covaxin & Sputnik). Even if the other vaccines are given approvals, they already are deep-neck filling up existing orders from the developed countries.

All the three suppliers (SII, Biocon & Dr. Reddy) will only be able to procure the vaccines for which they have got the approvals. In fact Dr. Reddy will take some time (read: a few months atleast) to be able to manufacture the Sputnik vaccine locally. Currently they will be importing it only.

They still have to provide 50% of their supplies to the Govt at the discounted price (~200 INR) and the remaining supplies sell at market prices through the private sector.

I highly doubt things will be all good and functioning from May 1st - it would probably take a few weeks for the supply chain to start functioning properly as states governments and private players (hospitals, etc.) will have to get their act together. We might also see hoarding and black marketing scenarios like it's already happening for Remdesivir.

[yosbert]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

Nopes - that is incorrect. Only the three vaccines will be available (Covishield Covaxin & Sputnik). Even if the other vaccines are given approvals, they already are deep-neck filling up existing orders from the developed countries.

I never said that vaccines from other suppliers will be available from May 1st. I just mentioned that this will be the way for vaccines from other suppliers (which cost much more) to be available to Indian public.
Also note that several companies including Pfizer, J&J, etc. are conducting or planning to conduct bridge trails for their vaccines in India. In fact SII is the contract manufacturer for Covovax vaccine by Novovax, which they plan to make available by September 2021. So it may not be entirely true that other vaccines will not be available in India in a few month's time.

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

In fact Dr. Reddy will take some time (read: a few months atleast) to be able to manufacture the Sputnik vaccine locally. Currently they will be importing it only.

Dr. Reddy will be one of the several manufacturers of Sputnik vaccine in India. But I agree with whatever you have written above.

[JithinR]

Originally Posted by ninjatalli

I highly doubt things will be all good and functioning from May 1st - it would probably take a few weeks for the supply chain to start functioning properly as states governments and private players (hospitals, etc.) will have to get their act together. We might also see hoarding and black marketing scenarios like it's already happening for Remdesivir.

I really hope our citizens realize this before it's too late. The announcement of the vaccines was one of the factors that led a lot of people to think that we had defeated this pandemic (among a host of others).

With the State Governments now coming into play in vaccine procurement I too suspect that things will go even more downhill for at least a few weeks if not months simply due to the greed of local politicians (of all parties).

News like this one https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...w/82127035.cms should provide perspective on how our netas will utilize this big PR opportunity.

[BoneCollector]

Covishield prices to be Rs. 400/- dose for state governments and Rs. 600/- dose for private hospitals.

Link

The Serum Institute of India (SII) on April 21 announced pricing of its Covishield COVID-19 vaccine doses that the manufacturer will be selling to state governments and private hospitals. State governments will be able to purchase the vaccine at Rs 400 per dose. The pricing for private hospitals has been capped at Rs 600 per dose.

[AYP]

Does anyone know when the registrations for people above 18(and below 45) open? Will it be from the 1st of May itself? I did try it out on the Cowin site but it doesn't let anyone register who is born before 1976.

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Covishield prices to be Rs. 400/- dose for state governments and Rs. 600/- dose for private hospitals.

Great news. The government’s move to liberalise pricing of vaccines is long over due; it should have happened in February - but better late than never. Hopefully corporate India can now start vaccinating their employees - ₹ 600 per dose (or even ₹800 assuming hospitals charge ₹200 for administering the vaccine) is very affordable, and should help reduce the need for future lockdowns etc. Hope they are able to use this and the advance of ₹4000 cr they are getting to ramp production up quickly - every day without vaccines leads to lost lives.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by BoneCollector

Covishield prices to be Rs. 400/- dose for state governments and Rs. 600/- dose for private hospitals.

Link

This document is misdirection where they conveniently talk about American, Russian and Chinese vaccines while avoiding talking about the price of the same vaccine they are making.

Oxford-AstraZeneca

Figures released by the National Audit Office in December estimated that the UK had spent nearly £12bn on its vaccination campaign so far. The bill included £2.9bn paid for a total of 267 million doses of five different coronavirus vaccines.
The domestically produced Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine costs the government around $3 (£2.17) per jab, according to the BMJ in January. The EU is paying $2.15 (£1.56) per dose of the UK-developed vaccine, the journal added, while the US is paying marginally more than the UK at $4 (£2.90) per jab.

https://www.theweek.co.uk/951750/wha...-who-pays-what

[Hayek]

Originally Posted by AZT

This document is misdirection where they conveniently talk about American, Russian and Chinese vaccines while avoiding talking about the price of the same vaccine they are making.

When they are selling 50% of their doses to the GOI at ₹ 150 (USD 2), making a reasonable profit on other sales is not a big deal. Their weighted average realisation will still be just ₹300 per dose or less. Let’s also recognise that there is something called cost of capital - Astra was given advances by the US, UK and EU governments against firm orders - Serum still does not have firm orders from anyone. Also unclear if the government has been paying for supplies in advance or if they will pay as per their own schedules.

[AZT]

Originally Posted by Hayek

When they are selling 50% of their doses to the GOI at ₹ 150 (USD 2), making a reasonable profit on other sales is not a big deal. Their weighted average realisation will still be just ₹300 per dose or less. Let’s also recognise that there is something called cost of capital - Astra was given advances by the US, UK and EU governments against firm orders - Serum still does not have firm orders from anyone. Also unclear if the government has been paying for supplies in advance or if they will pay as per their own schedules.

Agree with every word but the data they are comparing with was misdirection. Since they took the pains to point out American, Russian and Chinese vaccines, why not add one more line for Brit vaccines or more specifically the same vaccine we are producing.

That comparison was not needed and just makes it look like SII is doing us a favour when in reality they are charging at par or more than the rest of the world (UK, Eur, US). Increased volumes offering better scale and cost of manufacturing here being a lot lower is another point where they should milking on efficiency.

Edit: This increase in cost could also be a Russian condition for Sputnik to be made here as no point selling Sputnik for 3x if AZ is anyway available for 250. Vaccine diplomacy has come all the way back to bite us.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Side effects bulletin...

Having suffered badly at dose one, 24 hours after dose 2 I can report... nothing. Not even a sore muscle. Bit of an anticlimax, really!

About the sale of vaccines, etc...

Many of us have Rs250, and many of those could have afforded to pay twice, or even four times that. I would willingly have paid Rs1,000 or even more, and probably will in future for boosters, new-mutant vaccines, next-pandemic shots, etc etc etc etc. But this is not about what people can afford: it is about protecting everyone. Billionaires are not safe until street dwellers are safe. Cost should be zero or nominal and effort should be huge.