Govt Sets Up New Panel To Resolve Issues Related To Foreign COVID Vaccine Supply

In a bid to expedite the entry of the foreign manufactured Covid-19 vaccines, the Centre has constituted an interministerial panel to resolve issues relating to supply of the jabs manufactured in other countries, reports Economic Times.

The members of the panel include senior officials from law, external affairs and health ministries as well as chairman of the government's Covid-19 Task Force and NITI Aayog member Dr V K Paul.

According to the report, the panel will look to solve issues relating to supply chain, logistics and pricing. It will also examine the issue of the indemnity clause, which has been a point of contention between global vaccine manufacturers such as Pfizer and the Indian government.

The Centre has been in negotiations with Pfizer for months over the modalities to bring in the US pharma giant’s vaccines. However, there has been no breakthrough so far due to the contentious issue of indemnity clause.

It should be noted that the government is trying to scale up Covid-19 vaccination in the country. So far, three Covid-19 vaccines - Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V - are being used in India's vaccination drive.