Moderna refuses to send vaccines to Punjab | Fusion - WeRIndia

As the Centre asked state governments to procure vaccines directly from the manufacturers for the vaccination drive of individuals aged between 18 and 44 years, various states are trying to do so.

In this scenario, the Punjab state government tried to procure the Moderna vaccine. However, the company refused to send the vaccine directly to states, saying that it would only deal with the central government.

Vikas Garg, the Punjab government’s Nodal Officer for Vaccination, told the media that they requested Moderna for vaccines, but the company had refused, saying that they would not send it directly to states or private parties as part of their policy.

After getting the response, Garg said that they had also asked other companies to procure vaccines and were waiting for their response. They would not stop in this matter. They aim to provide vaccination to the entire population soon to control the transmission of COVID-19.

Earlier, on the directions of Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, officials had sought to float global tenders. They had written to different vaccine manufacturers like Moderna, Pfizer, Sputnik V, and Johnson & Johnson.

But, Moderna refused to send the vaccine to Punjab directly. The remaining vaccine manufacturers did not send any reply to the government.

Garg said that they received a positive response from COVAX. But, he did not reveal the details. He just said that the company was discussing the matter. Hence, the Punjab government was hoping to get vaccines from it. Besides, the CM wrote a letter to PM Modi in this regard and requested to procure the vaccine for the states.

Not just the Punjab government, but several other state governments and the Mumbai civic body have also been trying to procure them in other ways due to the shortage of vaccines in the country. They are also mulling to seek global vaccines to overcome the shortage of vaccines.

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