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Covishield & Covaxin: Things you need to know about the vaccines

Everyone above 18 years, from May 1, will be regarded eligible for getting a vaccination against Covid-19 only through advanced booking on the Co-Win website. The registration process will begin on April 28. And at this time state governments and private hospitals will independently obtain the vaccines and distribute them at a fixed charge per dose. At the current situation, Covishield, the vaccine developed by Oxford University in collaboration with AstraZeneca and made in India by Pune’s Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin will be available. It is said that later onwards, imported, fully ready-to-use vaccines will also be ready in the open market.

Before going to have Covid-19 vaccine, let’s know more about it:

Efficacy

Both the vaccines include two doses.

The overall efficiency of Cvishield is 70 per cent, but it can be over 90 per cent when applied as a half dose followed by a full dose a month later.

And in the case of Covaxin, it has shown the efficacy of 78 per cent in the second interim analysis and 100 per cent efficacy against ‘severe Covid-19 disease’.

Price

For Covishield, Rs 400 per dose to states and Rs 600 per dose to private hospitals. On the other hand, Covaxin will cost Rs 600 per dose for the states and Rs 1,200 per dose for private hospitals.

> In Central government hospitals, all vaccinations are free of cost.

> The prices that are published are for state governments and private hospitals to buy. But the end-users price will depend on the hospitals which may or may not impose any additional service charge.

> If you are getting vaccinated at state government hospitals, the price may go down as well in case the state subsidises the price. Some state governments including Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Sikkim, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, have announced that vaccination will be free.

> The given price range is only for people in the age group between 18 and 44 years. Vaccination of healthcare workers, frontline workers and people above the age group of 45 years will continue as before.

Is the open-market price of vaccines the highest in India?

The prices fixed for private hospitals in India is Rs 600 and Rs 1,200, which is claimed to be the highest in the world. As Bharat Biotech has not discussed the price issue and said recovering the cost is essential, Serum Institute CEO Adar Poonawalla said the contrast between the price in India and elsewhere is unfair.

When should you take the second dose?

The second dose of Covaxin should be taken within four to six weeks. And if it is Covishield, the second dose should be taken in four to eight weeks.

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