Maharashtra may get 10 million doses of Sputnik vaccine from July, says health min

With Maharashtra’s bidding process to procure vaccines stuck and chances of it yielding any results slim, the state health department has now moved into talks with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for the supply of Sputnik vaccine

With Maharashtra’s bidding process to procure vaccines stuck and chances of it yielding any results slim, the state health department has now moved into talks with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories for the supply of Sputnik vaccine. Health minister Rajesh Tope and senior department officials held a virtual meeting with the representatives from the company on Wednesday to discuss the supply of stock. Tope said that the talks would “materialise” and the state could get 10 million doses of Sputnik each month from July.

HT Image

Maharashtra government had floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) last month but only intermediaries claiming ties to the manufacturing companies responded. However, so far, they have not been able to establish their connection with the vaccine companies stalling the whole process. With the roadblock in the bidding process, the department decided to hold talks with Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, who has the sole distribution right of the first 250 million doses of the vaccine in India.

“Dr Reddy’s is the sole authority for the first 25 crore doses so we have to go seriously through them. Something will materialise for Sputnik soon. I held a detailed meeting with them today morning with senior officials and their representatives. We have discussed at length the queries. They will be supplying [but] in June, the quantity could be less. However, from July, August September, it would be 1 crore per month,” Tope said, adding that talks are yet to formalise.

Tope hinted that the tendering process is unlikely to yield any result. He said that there is no clarity from the intermediaries that have responded to the state’s bid. “There is no clarity on the response they (interested companies) have sent. So, let us wait for a few days. We have exchanged letters but we have not got the details we have sought. No concrete decision can be made based on this,” he said.

Though Maharashtra is at the top in the country in terms of the doses administered since the drive began, the state government has said it is not getting enough supply from the Centre, thereby slowing down the immunisation in the state. On May 13, the Maharashtra government suspended its inoculation for the 18-45 category as there was not enough vaccine stock for the second dose of beneficiaries over age 45. It diverted some of the stock it purchased for inoculation of the 18-45 age category. If the state gets an adequate amount of vaccines in June, it is expected to resume the inoculation drive for people between 18 and 45 years.