After months and months of waiting for a comprehensive vaccine against the deadly COVID-19 Novel Corona Virus Pandemic, we have some good news to look forward to. A number of vaccine candidates have been proving to be very effective against the corona virus and quite a few of them are in the end stages of testing, very close to the end of their Phase 3 clinical trials! On successful completion of these trials, the vaccines can move into production and the manufacturing companies are gearing up to maximise their production capabilities to ensure that the vaccines are available to inoculate as many people as possible! However, now comes the concept of costing and distribution, especially priorities, for the vaccines!

Just within the last couple of days, the CEO of the Serum Institute of India - Adar Poonawalla had revealed that the vaccine candidate being developed jointly by AstraZeneca and the Oxford University, has been showing good progress in its trials and that if it is approved and goes into production, would be available to people for a price of Rs. 1000, for two doses. Now, we have a similar update on the pricing on the vaccine candidate being developed by the US company - Moderna! Just recently, there was an official announcement from Moderna that its vaccine candidate had shown 94.5 % efficiency in the early results from its Phase 3 trials!

Now, the CEO of Moderna - Stephane Bancel, has stated that his company would be pricing its vaccine to governments at approximately USD 25 to USD 37, per dose. This price converted in INR amounts to Rs. 1,855 to Rs. 2,755! The CEO also mentioned that the prices may vary, based on the quantities of the vaccine being ordered by the governments. He is also reported to have said that the cost would be similar to that of flu shots, which are priced between $10 and $50! There are talks that governments are reaching out to Moderna to procure millions of doses of the vaccine at a price of about $25 or below, per dose. The CEO has reportedly told the media that his company is in talks with representatives of the European Union but added that no deal had been signed yet but is expected to happen in the next couple of days. Stay tuned for updates...