Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine may be priced under $10 (around Rs 730) per dose in India. This could be the lowest price for the mRNA-based jab globally, and almost half the rate in developed markets such as the UK, US and EU.

US pharma giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech have co-developed the two-shot COVID-19 vaccine called BNT162b2.

“It is a single-digit price per dose,” a source told the Business Standard, adding that “this is a not-for-profit price for the government’s immunization program.”

The Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine costs $19.5 (Rs 1,423) per dose in the US, and around $21 (Rs 1,532) a dose in the UK.

In the EU, the jab was priced at about $18.9 per dose earlier but price negotiations are in progress for a higher rate of $23.2 (Rs 1,693) a dose, the report added. The India price, thus, maybe the lowest.

Russia’s Sputnik V is priced in the country at Rs 995 per dose (inclusive of taxes) in the private market, while Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech’s made-in-India Covaxin cost Rs 600 and Rs 1200 a dose currently.

Meanwhile, Pfizer is holding talks with the Centre for supplying its COVID-19 vaccine to the country.

“Pfizer has offered to make the required doses of our COVID-19 vaccine available at a not-for-profit price for India, as for all low and lower-middle income countries, once we have the necessary regulatory clearance. Currently, as our discussions with the government of India are ongoing and confidential, we cannot provide further details,” a Pfizer spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the talks on indemnity are underway between the US pharma giant and the Centre. Manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna have been provided legal protection by the US govt, except in the cases of “willful misconduct” by the firms.