Bhubaneswar: Despite all-out efforts, the state government’s global tender initiative to procure Covid-19 vaccines directly from the international market has failed to yield the desired results.
This was indicated by state Health Minister Naba Kishore Das in a letter to the Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan.
In the letter, Das said there has been limited response to the global tender floated by the state as observed during the pre-bid stage. Even, Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech have not participated in the pre-bid meeting.
It is understood that the two pharmaceutical firms are not in a position to provide vaccines to states in large scale and, hence, there is an urgent need to scale up their capacities, he said.
Das added saying that like other states facing vaccine scarcity, now Odisha too is receiving no response from vaccine makers despite floating a global tender.
“Global vaccine manufacturers like Pfizer and Moderna are concerned about indemnity-related issues, among others. Secondly, they are willing to deal with federal-level central procurement only. Global vaccine manufacturers will be requiring statutory clearances from the Central government for supplying to the states,” Das stated in his letter.
In this backdrop, the state Health Minister proposed that the Centre bring a national-level procurement policy for procuring Covid-19 vaccines, adding that it would make things “faster and economical”.
Stating the Odisha government will bear the cost of the vaccines for the people of the state, Das sought flexibility on design and decision on distribution of vaccines taking local factors into consideration.
He said the state government cannot make online registration mandatory in hill areas where internet connectivity is poor.
Even though most of the Plus II students are of age 17 or little above, the minister said that the state government would like get them as well as their family members vaccinated on a priority basis.
Das further said the state wants to complete the vaccination process at the earliest so as to prevent a third wave of the pandemic and save lives and livelihood.
The vaccines will be provided free to people of the state, he added. So far, the state has vaccinated over 61 lakh people (including those who received one dose), vaccinating at a rate of two lakh people per day in early April.
However, owing to vaccine supply constraints, it is able to vaccinate 60,000 to 70,000 people per day despite possessing the capacity to vaccinate three lakh people daily.
As the supply of vaccines is very poor now, the state government had placed an order for 220 lakh doses of Covishield vaccine with SII and 10.34 lakh doses of Covaxin with Bharat Biotech.
While SII has only supplied 5,78,480 doses of Covishield, the state received 1,65,490 doses of Covaxin so far.
On May 14, the state-run Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) floated a global tender to procure Covid-19 vaccines to inoculate people in the 18 to 44 age group.
Due to very poor response from the vaccine manufacturers, the last date for submission of bid documents was extended by seven days from May 28 to June 4. Prior to that, the state government had also relaxed the terms of global tender document.
Meanwhile, the OSMCL has again revised its terms and conditions for procurement of vaccines.
PNN
