Centre steps in after foreign Covid-19 vaccine makers say no to state govts

Union govt in direct talks with firms but order book full for now

The Union government is in direct talks with global vaccine manufacturers to facilitate regulatory clearance and procurement of doses, the health ministry said on Monday. This follows the stand taken by foreign vaccine makers such as Moderna and Pfizer that they would only deal with the Centre and not individual states.  

The Centre had last month announced a "liberalised’’ vaccination policy with effect from May 1. The revised policy, made public on April 19, empowered states to procure vaccine doses directly from manufacturers. The move had prompted many states to float global tenders to procure vaccines from international firms. But, on Sunday Punjab said US-based vaccine maker Moderna had declined its request for direct supply of doses and that the company had indicated it would only deal with the government of India.

“We are coordinating at the central level with vaccine makers. The order books of both Pfizer and Moderna are full most of the time. Depending on the surplus available with them, they will get back to the government of India,” Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry, said during a press conference on Covid-19 situation.

Based on how much they can supply to India, the government would ensure and facilitate supplies of vaccine at state level, Agarwal said.

Clarifying on why only 50 million vaccines was being supplied by end of May when the total production of the two vaccines (Covishield and Covaxin) is around 80 million doses per month, Agarwal said that the production was not immediately available for supply. “There are processes involved in ensuring its availability. The immediate production today takes seven to nine days to become available,” Agarwal said.

A stability and sterility study, which can take up to a week, is done after production in the factory premises. Thereafter, vaccines are supplied in batches and sent first to the central drug laboratory in Kasauli for testing. Vaccines are then sent out through the supply chain network. “We have to strengthen our logistics and inventory management... States are told in advance about the free doses that will be made available to them in advance so that they can plan on field level,” the joint secretary added.

On the issue of talks with states and the Centre, another American vaccine maker Pfizer holds a view similar to Moderna. A Pfizer spokesperson told Business Standard, “As we have maintained all along, during this pandemic phase, across the world Pfizer will supply the Covid-19 vaccine only to central governments and supra-national organisations for deployment in national immunisation programmes. The allocation of doses and implementation plan within a country is a decision for local governments based on relevant health authority guidance.”

The company added that it remained committed to continuing its engagement with the government of India towards making the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine available for use nationally.