Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Sunday said the central government does not give vaccines directly to anyone and said that the Centre getting the vaccine cheaper than the states is "patently false".
"The 50% quota, that is at Government of India's pricing, is for free distribution of vaccines and distribution of all of this will be done through the states only. Hence the allegation that Centre is getting it cheap and states are not is patently false," he said in a facebook post.
The Serum Institute of India, manufacturing Covishield, announced that its vaccine would be sold at ₹ 400 to states and at ₹ 600 to private hospitals.
Bharat Biotech's Covaxin will cost ₹ 600 for state governments and ₹ 1,200 for private hospitals. The prices for the Centre would remain the same at ₹ 150.