BMC gets nine bids for vaccine procurement

Mumbai: The Mumbai Civil Body's Global Interest Show (EOI) received nine responses for the purchase of 10 million doses of vaccines, including two received on Tuesday, which was the last day for submission. All responses came from those who claim to be facilitators for the companies, including the one Johnson & Johnson received on Tuesday. Sputnik V said the review of the documents submitted by these auctioneers would continue for a few days to determine if the link with the manufacturers was "authentic".

 

Of the nine institutions, eight Russian vaccines have claimed to be Sputnik V and Sputnik V Light. An India-based firm claims it will supply any vaccine, including Johnson & Johnson's one-shot job, an official at BMC said. On Tuesday, we received fresh responses from two Indian companies. One claims to give Johnson & Johnson's vaccine and the other Sputnik V. But their recommendations are incomplete as they do not provide authorized letters and details of the relationship with the manufacturers.

 

The scrutiny of all the nine proposals will be completed in 2-3 days,” P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner, who heads BMC's vaccine procurement, told the Indian Express. Should these be rejected outright or should they be decided upon after scrutiny?  That's right, more documents are needed.” The other seven companies did not respond to BMC's questions and did not submit documents such as letters of approval and the relationship between them and the manufacturers. Johnson & Johnson, a US pharma company, manufactures single-shot vaccines. 

 

However, according to recent reports, the company does not plan to export to other countries. The Hyderabad-based Biological E Johnson & Johnson vaccines will be manufactured but delivered to the company under contract. Earlier, in response to BMC's EOI, a Romanian-based company claimed that Pfizer and Astra Zeneca would deliver. However, the company withdrew the proposal after Pfizer issued a statement saying no company was allowed to provide the vaccination. BMC Global Tender did not receive a response from any of the vaccine manufacturers. On May 12, BMC announced a global EOI to purchase one million doses of the vaccine. The deadline for submitting bids has been extended twice, ending on June 1.