Rajasthan’s global tender on vaccine uncalled for: Gehlot government will file a petition in the Supreme Court for global tender at the central level, Health Minister said – companies are asking for three to four times the rate of vaccine

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The Rajasthan government’s global tender which was withdrawn for importing the vaccine from abroad is proving to be inconclusive. Till now no vaccine supply deal with any company has been finalized. Seeing that the global tender is getting worse, the Rajasthan government has also decided to take another route. The Rajasthan government is preparing to file a petition in the Supreme Court, seeking directions to make a global tender of vaccine for people aged 18 to 44 at the central government level.

The government’s lawyers have started preparing to file a petition in the Supreme Court. The petition is likely to be filed in a couple of days. In the petition, citing the federal structure, it would be sought to order a global tender of the vaccine at the level of the Government of India soon, in view of the magnitude of the Corona epidemic, arguing the practical problems of global tender at the state level. For this, the opinion of experts and global tender failure of states will also be mentioned. The Government of Rajasthan has been demanding from the beginning to get the global tender from the Government of India for the doses required for vaccination of the youth.

Health Minister said – Central government should do global tender, for this we will go to Supreme Court

Health Minister Raghu Sharma told Bhaskar that the Government of India should make the global tender for the vaccine. We are going to the Supreme Court for this, petitioning soon. Foreign companies appearing in global tenders have to contact embassies and related countries to check their credentials or not. This work is of central government level, only the Government of India will talk abroad. Such are the practical problems in the global tender of the states. We will keep all these facts in the Supreme Court.

Foreign vaccine companies are demanding three to four times the money, so the government is not ready

The Rajasthan government had floated a global tender to import 1 crore vaccines. 20 May: Ask for proposals from companies. Global tenders were attended by distributors of Sputnik, Rithera, Astrajanica, Covishield Vaccine. Companies entering the global tender are asking for a rate of three to four times that of the vaccine. The Rajasthan government is not ready to buy the vaccine at such expensive rates. If the vaccine is taken at the rate of these companies, then the budget of the government will be badly affected. Companies are not in a position to give 1 crore doses in 30 days. Health Minister Raghu Sharma said that the rates of companies coming in the global tender are very high, as well as the issue of guarantee of supply in the given time.

Now central global tender is the only way for early vaccination of youth
The Rajasthan government had earlier ordered 1 crore dose vaccine supplies to the Serum Institute, but the serum was also unable to provide the vaccine simultaneously. So far, only 16 lakh doses have been received. To avoid delay in vaccination of the youth, the government took out a global tender, but there were many practical problems ranging from the rate. The vaccine will get vaccine from the global tender of vaccine, now its expectation is almost nil. Apart from Rajasthan, the global tenders of many states including Punjab, UP have also failed.