Kazakhstan Wants to Buy the Russian Vaccine. What is the Price Tag?

According to Marat Shoranov, the first health vice minister, Kazakhstan is ready to spend about $39.2 million on the Russian vaccine named Sputnik V.

The price of the vaccine will vary from $20 to $26 per dose depending on what month the party was supplied. As the vice minister noted, the final figure will be announced once all relevant documents are signed and the final offer is received.

«In general, we have allocated about 50 billion tenge ($118.5 million) to purchase the vaccine for ten million people. We are going to buy all kinds of vaccine – Russian, Kazakhstani or made by other countries. Now we have about $20 per one dose (which includes two components) of the Russian Sputnik V. I mean to obtain two million doses, we’ve already allocated 16.8 billion tenge ($39.2 million),» Shoranov said.

According to the official, the price tag for Sputnik V doesn’t depend on who whether Russia or Kazakhstan is the producer.

«We expect that roughly six million people will have obtained their shots at the end of the year. The vaccination will be free within the guaranteed state medical support,» he added.

Earlier, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan Kassym-Jomart Tokayev ordered to launch a vaccination campaign starting from February 1. To meet this deadline, Kazakhstani health officials negotiated with Russia to receive 20,000 doses of Sputnik V. The rest of the vaccine will be produced by the Karaganda Pharmaceutical Complex once the medicine is registered (deadline for that is February 15).

As health officials have estimated, the complex can produce about 90,000 doses in February; 150,000 doses in March and about 600,000 each month further. Moreover, the Ministry of Health also plans to use QazCovid-in, a vaccine that was developed by Kazakhstani scientists on their own.

Even though the government allocated the same money for Russian and domestic vaccines, Deputy Head of the Medical and Pharmaceutical Control Committee Nurlybek Asylbekov said that because of logistic costs, the price of the Kazakhstani-made Sputnik V may be higher than the Russian one.