Punjab government on Sunday said that COVID vaccine manufacturer ‘Moderna’ has refused to send vaccines directly to the State government as according to their policy, they only deal with Government of India and not with any State government or private parties.
Punjab’s nodal officer for vaccination Vikas Garg said that all vaccine manufacturers were approached for direct purchase of various COVID vaccines, including Sputnik V, Pfizer, Modern, and Johnson & Johnson, as per the directions of Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh to explore possibilities of floating a global tender for the procurement of vaccines from all possible sources to ensure early inoculation in the State.
In a statement Mr. Garg said that reply was received from Moderna only in which the company refused to deal with State government.
The statement added the State government was forced to stop vaccination for Phase I and Phase 2 categories in the last three days because of vaccines non-availability. All efforts would be made for procurement of vaccines to meet the acute shortage in the State, which had received fewer than 44 lakh vaccine doses so far from the Government of India, he said.
As per government of India allocation for Phase III (18-44 age group), the State government has been able to buy only 4.2 lakh vaccine doses, including 66,000 received yesterday. A total of 3.65 lakh have already been used, leaving only 64,000 for use as of now, said Mr. Garg.
