Sputnik V to cost much lower than Pfizer and Moderna's Covid-19 vaccines

US Pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna have already announced the price their potential Covid-19 vaccines. The price of Sputnik V is expected to be made public next week.

As a vaccine against the novel coronavirus comes closer to reality, one question that almost everyone has now is how much it will cost to get the shot? Countries around the world are also apparently in a race to bring out the most affordable vaccine.

US Pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna have already announced the price their potential Covid-19 vaccines. While Pfizer's vaccine is expected to cost governments $19.50, they may have to shell out $25 and $37 per dose for Moderna's mRNA-1273 vaccine.

Meanwhile, Russia has claimed that its Sputnik V vaccine the world's first registered potential Covid-19 vaccine will cost much lower than that of Pfizer's and Moderna's vaccines.

"Translating pharma lingo: the announced price of Pfizer of $19.50 and Moderna of $25-$37 per dose actually means their price of $39 and $50-$74 per person. Two doses are required per person for the Pfizer, Sputnik V and Moderna vaccines. The price of Sputnik V will be much lower," said a tweet from the official Twitter handle of Sputnik V on Sunday.

However, it didn't announce the price of Sputnik V. Quoting a spokesman for the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), TASS news agency reported that the price of Sputnik V will be made public next week.

Sputnik V is developed by the Gamaleya National Research Centre for Epidemiology and Microbiology of the Russian Health Ministry. The vaccine was officially registered in August ahead of large-scale clinical trial. The post-registration clinical trials began on August 25 and the first batch of the vaccine was dispatched to Russian regions on September 12, according to the TASS report.

Moderna to produce 20 million doses by year end

The CEO of Moderna, Stephane Bancel, on Sunday revealed that his company will charge governments between $25 and $37 per dose of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

Talking to German weekly Welt am Sonntag (WamS), Barcel said that the price of the vaccine will depend on the size of the order put by the governments.

Bancel maintained that it is a "fair price" and that the company is not interested in "maximum profit," according to the report.

"Our vaccine therefore costs about the same as a flu shot, which is between $10 and $50," Reuters quoted him as saying.

Last week, Moderna had announced that its vaccine has shown more than 94.5 per cent effectiveness in preliminary data from the ongoing study.

It aims to produce approximately 20 million doses of its mRNA-1273 vaccine by the end of 2020 and 500 million to 1 billion doses globally in 2021.

The company is in talks with the European Commission for the delivery of millions of doses of its COVID-19 vaccine. Bancel told WamS that it was "only a matter of days" before the contract is signed.

Britain may approve Pfizer-BioNTech's vaxthis week

Before Moderna, Pfizer and BioNTech announced that their mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine candidate, BNT162b2, has shown to be 95% effective in preventing Covid-19.

Pfizer is in the process of seeking the US regulators' approval for emergency use of its Covid-19 vaccine candidate.

Meanwhile, a report in the Telegraph news site on Sunday said that Britain could give regulatory approval to Pfizer-BioNTech's Covid-19 vaccine this week, even before the US authorises it.

British regulators are about to start a formal appraisal of the vaccine, the report said citing government sources.

It added that the National Health Service had been told to be ready to administer it by Dec. 1.

Pfizer and BioNTech are reportedly charging $19.50 per dose for their vaccine, which is significantly lower than that of Moderna.

With inputs from IANS