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Uttar Pradesh govt extends last date for submission of vaccine bids by 10 days
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday extended by 10 days the last date for submission of the bids to supply 40 million doses of Covid vaccines till May 31
The Uttar Pradesh government on Friday extended by 10 days the last date for submission of the bids to supply 40 million doses of Covid vaccines till May 31.
Additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) Amit Mohan Prasad said the last date was extended on the request of the vaccine manufacturing companies that were keen to participate in the global tender floated by the state government to procure vaccines. May 21 was the last date earlier, he said.
Representatives of various companies told the state government that some of them were yet to get the regulatory approval from the central government, Prasad said. Others said that they needed time to maintain the vaccine stock as, according to the bid conditions, the companies would have to supply the second dose after the first one, he added. The representative of another company said that they needed time for obtaining approval for the vaccine rate, Prasad said.
Additional chief secretary (information) Navneet Sehgal said the state government will approach foreign Covid vaccine manufacturers to ramp up the vaccine stock and get the supply soon.
In the pre-bid qualification meeting held on May 13, top vaccine manufacturing companies — Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Zydus Cadila, Pfizer, Serum Institute of India (SII), Bharat Biotech and a Korean company — had raised the issues of storage and transportation of the vaccines and bid security.
The state government on May 17 had revised the supply conditions, bid security and eligibility terms for the bidders to pave the way for the participation of maximum companies.
In the revised tender, the state government has stated that the manufacturers of vaccines requiring storage or transportation at temperatures like -20 degrees Celsius, -70s degree Celsius or -80 degrees Celsius can participate in the tender. It would pave the way for the entry of foreign vaccine manufacturers like Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson in the global tender, Sehgal said.
“The more vaccines we get, the maximum number of people will be vaccinated quickly,” he said.
