Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that vaccine manufacturers Pfizer and Moderna had refused them that they will not sell vaccines to their states, but will deal directly with the government of India. On the other hand Mumbai has received three leads for the import of Russia’s Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccines.
Delhi’s action on the COVID-19 vaccine
Many states have issued a global tender for vaccines, Delhi is also in the process of finalising and has also been talking to manufacturers around the globe. Kejriwal said on Sunday that he is personally in conversation with manufacturers globally and cost will not be a barrier in the distributions of vaccines.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia also said on Monday that companies like Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson have told them that they are in touch with the centre and they will not deal with state governments. He also said that while other countries had supported manufacturers and pre-ordered, India was still somewhere behind.
Adding to it he said-
“Across the world, countries kept an eye on vaccine development. They placed advanced procurement orders. By November 2020, US and EU gave orders for 70 crore vaccines. They have enough vaccines for their residents. By January the UK had placed orders for enough vaccines for 70% of its population. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Serum Institute of India last year but did not invest in them or place orders. Only after April did this happen. The US started investing in March, 2020. Government of India kept sleeping, and is sleeping even now.”
Delhi has had to shut vaccination centres for those in the 18-44 categories as vaccines have been at shortage. Earlier Kejriwal had said that the city needs 80 lakh vaccines a month to vaccinate the state on a war footing. Delhi has an estimated population of 2 crore and wants to complete vaccination in 3 months, which was later blamed at the centre govt. and their poor management.
Mumbai BMC’s take on the vaccine tender
The city’s civic body had earlier this month placed global tenders for one crore doses. The BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) had placed the tenders on May 11. These were issued under India’s latest nationwide COVID-19 inoculation policy, allowing state governments to import COVID-19 vaccine doses directly from producers.
This whole process was based on the bid system where the BMC received three leads and the deadline for submission of bids ends tomorrow. Out of the three bids, one was made by the London-based facilitator of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Sputnik V’s manufacturer, and the other two by its India-based independent representatives.
According to sources, the next step in the bidding process for Mumbai involves a letter of interest which is to be sent to RDIF. In selection cases, the payment must be made to an escrow account of RDIF’s.
About Sputnik V
Sputnik V was curated by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology and was registered to use on August 11, 2020, by the Russian Ministry of Health. It is cleared for use in India but it is yet to get approved from the World Health Organization.
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