CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu government’s hope of getting Covid-19 vaccine through a global tender was crushed as there were no takers till 11am on Saturday — the last day for tender submission. The winning bidder was to supply the vaccine within 180 days, progressively from the date of the purchase order. The state was left with 1.52 lakh doses on Saturday morning. If the stock gets over by the weekend, the state will have to pause the drive until fresh stock arrives, officials said.
The state wanted a vaccine that can be stored in 2°C–8°C. The state government, along with Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation, will decide on further course of action.
With no bidders, the state must wait for central supply or buy directly from manufacturers — Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech. The Centre allots the quantity of vaccines a state can buy from the domestic vaccine makers. The state was earlier allotted nearly 1.1 crore doses of the vaccine. After giving administering 96.74 lakh (and excluding wastage), the state was left with the 1.52 lakh doses.
On May 15, the state issued a global tender to source 3.5 crore units of Covid-19 vaccine to inoculate people in the 18-44 years age group free of cost. The state has 3.65 crore people in the age group. The aim is to cover 70% of these demographic — around 2.5 crore people — with 5 crore doses of the vaccine.
A senior official in the state health department said Tamil Nadu had decided to allow all World Health Organisation-approved vaccines to bid irrespective of their Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) approval status, unlike other states which approved only products with both approvals. “Yet, no bidder came forward to provide vaccines to the state,” the official said. Many states including Kerala, Telangana and Haryana have also reported that they did not attract bidders when they called for tenders.
