Centre To Step In To Procure Vaccine Jabs As Pfizer And Moderna Refuse To Directly Supply To The State Govts

The Centre has stepped in to procure vaccines from United States (US)-based Pfizer and Moderna Inc after the two companies refused to directly supply vaccines to Punjab and Delhi Governments, reports Livemint.

Sharing details about this yesterday (24 May), Lav Agarwal who is the Joint Secretary at the Union Ministry of Health said that the Centre is coordinating with them and is facilitating them in terms of approval and procurement.

Agarwal also added that the order book of Pfizer and Moderna is full so it depends on their surplus that how much they can provide to India. He said that the two companies will come back on it to the Centre and that the Centre will help in facilitation to States.

Meanwhile, India has so far been running the ongoing nationwide COVID-19 vaccination drive with supplies of Covishield from Pune based Serum Institute of India (SII) and supplies of Covaxin from Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech. Efforts are in the process to ramp up the production of both the vaccines in the near term to meet the surge in demand and need.