Nawab Malik questions Centre over use of non-permitted Moderna vaccine

Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik on Thursday questioned the Central government about how it allowed a non-permitted vaccine to be administered to the residents of France and their relatives who reside in India

Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Nawab Malik on Thursday questioned the Central government about how it allowed a non-permitted vaccine to be administered to the residents of France and their relatives who reside in India.

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Malik in his tweet said “Covishield, Covaxin and Sputnik V are the 3 Vaccines that are permitted in India by our government. According to information received by me, the French Embassy in India has procured the vaccine @moderna_tx and is inoculating their citizens and their relatives at Navi Mumbai with the help of @ApolloHosMumbai. Question arises, how can a non-permitted vaccine be allowed to be administered? If they can get it, why can’t Indian government get it for our citizens too? The government and the Health Minister @drharshvardhan must clarify.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has termed this a non-issue. “It is the right of every embassy to give whatever vaccine they want to their employees. The state has the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) which should take action if they want. They just want to divert the topic,” said BJP legislator Ram Kadam.

The state government has been accusing the Centre for vaccination fiasco, saying it was the latter who allots vaccines to states and hence any shortage was its responsibility. State ministers said the Central government was biased against Maharashtra and was not allotting sufficient vaccines to it.