Rs 8,449 not enough for the vaccine, says the importer of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and is threatening to “re-export” the 50,000 doses it brought to Pakistan. Officials say that the importer is saying that they can send the vaccine to ‘another country’ if the importer’s desired price is not set by the government.
“The drug pricing committee of DRAP (Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan had recommended Rs8,449 for two doses of the vaccine, which is not acceptable to the importer,” an anonymous official of the federal government told news network, Geo News .
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“The government is already under harsh criticism for the price recommended by DRAP’s pricing committee at Rs8,449. It was calculated on the basis of a landing cost of $30 but people are comparing it with the cost of the Russian vaccine in India and criticising the government for fixing higher price as compared to the neighbouring country,” the official stated.
A representative of AGP Limited, the importer of the vaccine, said that they had the “option of re-exporting” the vaccine shipment or selling it to another country where they can get a much higher price.
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“The government’s price of Rs8,449 is not affordable for us because in addition to landing cost, there is distributor margin, storage and transportation costs, and hospitals and institutions will also take their service charges,” an official of the company clarified, also adding that if the didn’t send the vaccine back, there were ‘other options’ available too.
“We are going to wait for a couple of days to resolve this issue but it is already over a week now and the shipment is [stored needlessly] at the cold storage. It could have been used by now to vaccinate at least 25,000 people who could afford to get it, as for millions, government’s vaccine is not available,” the official said to Geo News.
Government officials had earlier said that AGP wants a retail price between Rs. 12,500-13,000 for two doses of their vaccine based on their expenses for procuring and delivering the vaccine but DRAP is unwilling to review its decision, since they say the recommended price of Rs. 8449 is fair.
