Govt pushes back on vaccine plan criticism

NEW DELHI: The government is in talks with Pfizer and is considering its demand for an indemnity from any adverse effects if its vaccine is rolled out in India, a top official said on Thursday as the government defended India’s vaccine procurement policy by separately releasing a document rebutting criticism that has poured in recently.

In what it labelled as “myths”, the government said in a statement that it is “engaged continuously” with major vaccine manufacturers since mid-2020, but the companies had “their own priorities, game-plans and compulsions in allocating finite stocks”.

“Multiple rounds of discussions have happened with Pfizer, J&J & Moderna. Government offered all assistance to have them supply and /or manufacture their vaccines in India. However, it is not that their vaccines are available in free supply. We need to understand that buying vaccines internationally is not similar to buying ‘off the shelf’ items,” said the Myths and Facts on India’s Vaccination Process document shared by the Press Information Bureau and re-shared by multiple ministers.

The document, however, does not address the main criticism experts have made: India did not make any advance purchase orders – also known as advance marketing commitments (AMC) with any of the vaccine makers, including domestic manufacturers, till shortly before the rollout.

Later, at the government’s routine briefing on Covid-19, Niti Aayog member (health) Dr VK Paul confirmed that India was now in talks with Pfizer. “Yes, we are in talks with Pfizer, since they indicated they have certain amount of vaccines available in the coming months — possibly starting in July. We are looking at what their expectations from the government are and they are looking at what our expectations are,” he said.