States that plan to buy COVID vaccines from outside India amid shortages

The second coronavirus wave in India has led to a shortage of COVID-19 vaccines due to a rise in demand. This has prompted several states to close vaccination centres, or prioritise the jabs for those who need to be given their second dose within a prescribed period.

In such a situation, several states will float global tenders to procure the jabs amid a shortage in domestic supply, reported PTI.

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Here’s the list of such states:

1) Odisha

The state government on Monday said that it had decided to float a global tender for procuring the vaccine to inoculate the state’s entire population.

“It is felt that complete vaccination is the best way to protect the precious lives of the people. Therefore, the Cabinet allowed the state government to go for global tender and get vaccines at the earliest,” Chief Secretary SC Mohapatra said.

2) Uttar Pradesh

Earlier this month, the state government floated e-tenders to procure four crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines from licensed manufacturers. 

State officials on Tuesday said that UP may directly procure a large amount of international COVID-19 vaccines such as Sputnik V and those developed by Moderna and Johnson & Johnson.

3) Maharashtra

The state government, last month, said it will float global tenders to procure COVID vaccines and Remdesivir injections.

On April 27, the Maharashtra government issued a global tender to procure 10 lakh Remdesivir vials, 40,000 oxygen concentrators and 25,000 metric tonnes of oxygen.

Mumbai’s civic body, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), has said it’ll float global tenders to get 50 lakh vaccine doses.

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4) Andhra Pradesh

The state government will also float global tenders to get COVID jabs from foreign manufacturers.

“We are exploring the option of buying the vaccine from any foreign manufacturer since there is a short supply of Covishield and Covaxin,” the state’s Principal Secretary (Health) Anil Kumar Singhal said.

5) Karnataka

The state will procure two crore vaccine doses through global tender to meet the increased demand, said Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and state COVID task force head C N Ashwath Narayan. It’ll also help facilitate vaccination of the age group of 18-44 years.

“Till now, we had depended only on vaccines supplied by the central government and it was not procured from the open market by floating tender. Now, it has been instructed to float the tender and to complete the process within seven days,” Narayan said, the news agency reported.

As per the Liberalised Pricing and Accelerated National COVID-19 Vaccination Strategy, which came into effect on May 1, 50% of the vaccine doses of any manufacturer are procured by the Centre. The remaining 50% go to states and private establishments.

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According to this policy, vaccination is free of cost at centres that receive doses from the Centre. This provision is applicable on the eligible population — healthcare workers, frontline workers and people above the 45 years of age.

However, states and private hospitals have to procure vaccines to immunise persons in the age group of 18 to 44 years.