Offered not-for-profit price for COVID vax; to supply through govt contracts in India: Pfizer

Global pharma major Pfizer on Thursday said it has offered a not-for-profit price for its vaccine for the government immunization program in India and it remains committed to continuing engagement with the government to make the vaccine available in the country.

The company also said during the pandemic phase it will supply the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 mRNA vaccine only through government contracts.

''Pfizer remains committed to continuing our engagement with the Government towards making the Pfizer and BioNTech vaccine available for use in the government's immunization program in the country'', a Pfizer spokesperson said in an email response to PTI.

As stated earlier, during this pandemic phase, Pfizer will prioritize supporting governments in their immunization programs and supply the COVID-19 vaccine only through government contracts based on agreements with respective government authorities and following regulatory authorization or approvals, the statement added.

The company, however, did not reveal the 'not-for-profit' price that it has suggested to the government.

The company is committed to work for equitable and affordable access for its vaccine across the world, the Pfizer spokesperson said.

''... in all our agreements Pfizer has adopted a distinct pricing structure for high, middle, and low/lower-middle-income countries consistent with our commitment to work towards equitable and affordable access for our COVID-19 vaccine for people around the world,'' the statement said.

''For India, Pfizer has offered a not-for-profit price for its vaccine for the government immunization program'', it added without revealing the price.

The union government on Monday announced that everyone above 18 years of age would be eligible to get vaccinated against COVID-19 from May 1 as it liberalized the vaccination drive to allow states, private hospitals and industrial establishments to procure the vaccine doses directly from manufacturers.

Under the third phase of the national vaccination drive commencing next month, the vaccine manufacturers would supply 50 percent of their monthly Central Drugs Laboratory (CDL) released doses to the central government and would be free to supply the remaining 50 percent doses to state governments and in the open markets.