The head of the government vaccine team, NK Arora, told NDTV yesterday that all US vaccine developers insist on compensation and liability clauses, and India’s unwillingness to comply with these clauses is slowing its entry into the market. However, he revealed that the country plans to vaccinate all eligible adults by December and does not rely on foreign vaccines.
However, Dr. Arora stated that if vaccine manufacturers are willing to supply excess vaccines, such as 10 or 200 million doses, the government will reconsider its position on compensation.
He said that Pfizer only provided 70 million doses, which is a small part of the 135 crore doses India needed in December. He said that Moderna only provided 7.5 million doses, “not even for Saket (located in southern Delhi).”
Earlier today, news broke that Johnson & Johnson had withdrawn its proposal to speed up the approval of local trials, although the company said it was still negotiating with the Indian government to “explore how best to expedite our ability to provide vaccines. COVID19 to India “.
“The general problem is that for American vaccine manufacturers Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, one of the requirements they meet is what they call the paperwork and compensation and liability clauses that the recipient country must meet,” Mr. Arora said, describing the severance. The terms are a “big obstacle”.
This means that cannot sue the vaccine manufacturer in the event of any adverse event.
India has been negotiating with the company. For Pfizer, despite discussions since January, no documents have been submitted yet. He added that Johnson and Johnson submitted the documents and then withdrew them.
Mr. Arora also took Pfizer vaccine as an example to say that the number of medicines provided by these US vaccine manufacturers is not large.
For this reason, and the compensation clause, foreign vaccines were not considered when preparing the supply plan for the December term.
India, as the largest vaccine producer, should consider its own “industry welfare”. “Starting from 2022, India can become a major supplier of vaccines to the rest of the world,” he added.
