BMC to wait for Government allocation, no more tender procurement for vaccines

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has finally given up on tender procurement, after the disappointing outcomes from the previous attempts. BMC received nine proposals but all got rejected because of incorrect documentation. Now, the civic body has to wait for the Central Government to officially increasing its share for the vaccine doses. A very small part of the production will remain for the open market, as after the new policy, 75 percent of the total production will be procured by the Union Government.

 

According to the sources of BMC, this initiative by the center will slow down its efforts to obtain additional vaccine doses directly from the open market. The civic body was also putting efforts to contact pharmaceutical companies, including Dr. Reddy’s, for the Russian vaccine- Sputnik V. However, now with the new policy of the Central Government, these efforts will slow down.

Central Government has announced free vaccines to the states from June 21, for which it will procure 75 percent of the total manufactured vaccines. Due to this only 25 percent will remain for the open market.

 

Before this, 50 percent was with the central Government, 25 percent was with the state and the remaining 25 percent was there for the open market players. Suresh Kakani, the additional municipal commissioner said, “We hoping to get more doses from the authorities, after the new policy of central Government.” BMC is facing a shortage currently for vaccines, due to which the general public is pushed towards private centers. The civic body has paused the Vaccination drive for the 18-44 age group for now.