‘Proposals from Indian suppliers of foreign jabs may delay process’

A woman takes her shot at Dagdi Chawl in Byculla on Wednesday. Pic/Ashish Raje

The eight proposals that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received for its expression of interest (EOI) for 1 crore vaccine doses, include Indian suppliers and distributors of foreign vaccines and not the manufacturers of the vaccines. The civic body has not got a single response from either the foreign or Indian manufacturers. Officials are of the opinion that if the actual manufacturers had responded then the documentation and procurement process would have been easier, but now the entire scrutiny process would be a lengthy one.

According to reports, the Russian Direct Investment Fund has allowed six manufacturers in India to produce Sputnik V but to the dismay of the civic body, none of them have sent a proposal. Not just this, even the two Indian vaccine producers - Serum Institute and Bharat Biotech - have not responded. The civic body has even written to one of the producers about the EOI.

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While the BMC is looking to procure 1 crore doses at $10 each, it fears that the documentation and scrutiny process would delay procurement of the vaccines. Civic sources claimed that the proposals they received were not complete and further scrutiny would be done as they had received proposals from suppliers and not manufacturers of the vaccines.

Requesting anonymity, a civic official said, "This is going to be a very lengthy process as the documents that we need may not be available with the distributors. We need certificates from the manufacturers that these suppliers are linked to. They also need to ensure that the vaccines are delivered in time.
The civic commissioner too is trying to establish contact with the RDIF. But had the central government struck a deal with the Russian government, it would have been an easier process."