Pfizer, Moderna Order Books Full, Will Contact Us Based On Vaccine Surplus: Govt
Mumbai: The Centre has said that order books of Pfizer and Moderna are currently full but it is in touch with them to facilitate the launch of their COVID-19 vaccines in India.
Luv Aggarwal, joint secretary in the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, said in a media briefing that Pfizer and Modern’s order book was already full, and based on their surplus and how much they could provide to India, these companies will reach out to the government of India. Aggarwal said that the Center would then ensure and facilitate the supply of these vaccines to the state governments.
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Aggarwal said that the central government is closely coordinating with Pfizer and Moderna for regulatory convenience in terms of clearance and procurement facilities.
Speaking on the clear distinction between daily vaccine production and daily vaccine administration in the country, Aggarwal attributed the need for vaccine supply logistics and testing.
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The country was currently making 8 crore vaccine doses in a month. Aggarwal said that if the Serum Institute (SII) was producing 6.5 crore Covishield shots and Bharat Biotech 2 crore Covaxin supplements a month, that production was not immediately available as it would test stability and sterility in the factory premises for a week, said Aggarwal.
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These vaccines are manufactured in batches and each batch is sent to the central pharmaceutical laboratory of the government in Kasauli, Himachal Pradesh for testing, which takes a day to be processed and then these batches enter the country’s supply chain. Therefore, it takes about 7-9 days for the vaccine to be available. After that, there is logistics and inventory management with multiple sites, cold chains and intermediate storage points. So, the vaccines would become available only in subsequent weeks. States would need to make their supply chain management robust to offer the shots just in time, Agarwal said.
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The Centre has so far provided 21.80 crore vaccines to the states and UTs and of this 19.60 crore doses have been administered. More than 1.80 crore doses are still available with the states and UTs and another 48 lakh are in the pipeline to be distributed in the next three days, he added.
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