With many vaccine manufacturers keen on dealing directly with the Centre, global tenders for vaccines by the States may not be an immediate solution for vaccine procurement, according to V. Ravi, virologist and nodal officer for genomic confirmation of SARS-CoV-2 in Karnataka.
Dr. Ravi told The Hindu that the manufacturers of Pfizer have clearly indicated that they will deal only with the Union government. “Besides, the manufacturers of Sputnik, who have already made the first lot available in India, are also in touch with the Centre. This vaccine will be supplied from Russia till July, by which time local production will begin in India,” said Dr. Ravi, who is also a member of the International Advisory Board of Sputnik vaccine.
“As the demand for vaccines is high globally, the schedule of supplies becomes an important issue while negotiating with vendors. Moreover, among the bidders it is important to ensure that they are authorised dealers. Vaccine procurement through global tenders may not be as simple as it is made out to be,” he said.
If the global tenders floated by the State government are not successful, the Centre may have to intervene and take charge of procurement for the States, he said. Dr. Ravi also said it would have been better if the Centre had collated the requirements for all the States and floated one big tender. “Now the suppliers will also play one State against the other. They can quote different rates to different States,” he said.
Karnataka, which has so far vaccinated over two crore people, is one of the few States that has promoted inoculation in a big way. Around 30% of the population has received one or the other vaccine here, which is higher than the national average (only 20 crore of the 100 crore population across the country have been vaccinated). Although there is a need to further increase of vaccination, availability is a big issue.
