HTLS 2020: ‘Oxford Covid-19 vaccine will be priced at Rs 500-600,’ says Adar Poonawalla

Oxford University’s Covid-19 vaccine will likely be priced at Rs 500-600 Adar Poonawalla, chief government officer of Serum Institute of India informed Hindustan Times on Thursday. He stated it’ll take one other 3-Four months earlier than the vaccine could possibly be made accessible to most people. Poonawalla’s feedback got here throughout the second session of the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit; Day 1, ‘Covid-19: Where Do We Stand’.

While in dialog with HT’s well being and science editor Sanchita Sharma, Poonawalla stated that just about 300-400 million doses of the Oxford vaccine for Covid-19 will likely be accessible by the primary quarter of 2021. Poonawalla emphasised the importance of “private players” for enhanced distribution of the vaccine as soon as it hits the market.

“As many private players will have to be brought in to partner with the government for enhanced distribution of the vaccine… we see more of that happening,” he stated.

 Also learn: HTLS 2020 – Is India prepared for one more pandemic? AIIMS director Dr Guleria solutions

Poonawalla stated it’ll take about 4 extra years to get everybody get vaccinated and shielded from the virus.

“It will be 2024, till everybody will get vaccinated and protected,” he famous.

Speaking on the attainable “side-effects” of the Oxford Covid-19 vaccine, Poonawalla stated, a few of the delicate signs that have been famous throughout completely different age teams included, “little fever, weakness, headache, normal cold”.

“Even those symptoms went away in one or two days after giving paracetamol,” he stated.

In the opening session of the summit, Dr Randeep Guleria, director of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), and Dr Ashish Okay Jha, dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health talked concerning the pandemic, the street forward for India and the breakthrough achieved by pharmaceutical giants Moderna and Pfizer with respect to the Covid-19 vaccine.

Both the consultants expressed their delight with the event whereas cautioning towards the challenges forward.