The Delhi government has floated a global expression of interest (EOI) for procurement of 10 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine on an urgent basis. The offered COVID-19 vaccine must be duly approved by competent authority of the government of India, the Directorate General of Health Services said in the EOI document.
If the vaccine if not yet approved for use in India, the manufacturers, importers or authorised agents of the maker can apply, but should obtain requisite permission from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, it said. ”The Health and Family Welfare Department of NCT of Delhi intends to procure SARS-Cov2 vaccine on an urgent basis to control and manage the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Global Expression of Interest is hereby invited from international manufacturers of COVID-19 vaccine or their authorised agents or from direct importers with appropriate licence to import the vaccine in India,” the document read.
The bidders have been asked to submit their offer or expression of interest through e-mail by 5 pm on June 7. They have also been asked to mention the quantity they can clearly commit for supplies to the Central Procurement Agency of the Delhi government in the shortest time after taking into consideration all necessary factors. The central government has so far approved three vaccines for use in India — Covishield, Covaxin and Russia’s Sputnik V.
The Serum Institute of India (SII) makes Covishield (under licence from AstraZeneca), while Bharat Biotech makes the indigenously-developed Covaxin. Delhi has so far received 47.44 lakh doses from the Centre for those aged above 45, and healthcare and frontline workers. Of this, 44.76 lakh doses have been utilised so far.
The city government had suspended the inoculation exercise for the 18-44 age group on May 22 after it ran out of vaccines for this category. Till now, 8.17 lakh doses have been procured directly from the manufacturers for the 18-44 age group. The capital is likely to get around four lakh more doses for this category from the manufacturers in India in June.
According to data shared with the Centre, 52.98 lakh doses have been administered in Delhi since the inoculation exercise started on January 16. Of this, 36.92 lakh were Covishield doses and 16.06 were Covaxin jabs. The maximum number of 1.41 lakh people were vaccinated on May 10.
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