The proposal to administer Covid vaccines for all individuals above 18 years could take a longer time than anticipated, as more than 10 States across the country vie with each other to procure vaccines from foreign manufacturers through global tenders.
With Serum Institute (SI) and Bharat Biotech (BB) unable to meet the demand for vaccines and the Centre decentralising vaccine procurement process, many States including Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Telangana, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan find themselves pitted against each other in the race to import vaccines.
Apart from TS, other States including AP, Delhi and Karnataka on Tuesday joined the fray and floated global tenders for vaccines. Senior health officials familiar with the process said there is no clear signal or clarity on when the foreign vaccine manufacturers will be able to supply the vaccines. Then there is the issue of whether the global tenders will elicit enthusiastic response from foreign manufacturers, as they already have prior commitments to supply vaccines to other countries.