In a blow to the Telangana government’s efforts to procure COVID-19 vaccines through a global tender, no vaccine manufacturers came forward with bids. The government had floated a global tender to procure one crore doses. June 4, Friday, was the final day for the bids. “There was no response for the global tender,” PTI quoted a government source as saying.
AstraZeneca (UK) and representatives of Sputnik V had earlier participated in the pre-bid meeting and sought clarifications about supply schedule, cold chain and payment methods. The global tenders were invited through Telangana State Medical Services and Infrastructure Development Corporation (TSMSIDC).
“It seems production shortage was the reason for the companies not coming forward for bidding. After the supply improves, the government may go for another bid in August,” Times of India quoted an official as saying. According to the TOI report, while the state requires four crore doses to vaccinate everyone, so far, around 63 lakh people have been vaccinated.
Pfizer and Moderna manufacturers have already said that they would negotiate only with the Union government.
Meanwhile, on June 4, Friday, state Information Technology and Industry Minister KT Rama Rao accused the Union government of "bungling" on the vaccination front. He demanded the Union government immediately import unused vaccines from other countries.
Demanding the BJP-led government ramp up vaccination, he asked them to use the Rs 35,000 crore allocated in the Union Budget to procure vaccines. He said that the vaccination would have been completed by now, if not for "some wrong decisions taken by the Centre."
"When we should have procured the vaccines, we did not procure them. Instead, we exported to other countries," he said.
On the issue of global tenders, KTR said, “Some states called for tenders but there was no response. Some states spoke to companies like Pfizer and Moderna but they said they were dealing with the government of India.”
Speaking about the COVID-19 crisis in Telangana, he said the state was in a much better situation compared to its neighbours. He said that the number of new positive cases will further decline over the next week.