No Chinese vaccine for Mumbai! BMC looks for 1 crore vaccines; bars China

In a recently floated tender by the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the city has issued a global Expression of Interest (EoI) in order to procure one crore doses of vaccines that are needed for the population of Mumbai. The EoI rolled out, however, has added a clause that bars countries sharing land borders with India. This means that BMC will not be considering any company or vaccine that comes from China.

According to a report by The IE, P Velrasu, Additional Municipal Commissioner (Projects) said that the BMC is not aware of the current policy issued by the Central government and they have banned Chinese firms from participating in EoI, as mentioned in the tender. The decision was taken as BMC is concerned about the quality and other aspects of Chinese vaccines and is not willing to accept the approval given by the WHO.

Apart from this, the municipality said that all the interested companies will need to give a response by May 18. And the companies that are finalised will need to make the vaccine delivery within three weeks of the issue of work order, states the Expression of Interest (EoI). Velrasu said that the finalised company will need to meet all compliance in India including import facilitation as well as getting essential registration. The company has also been asked to quote rates based on one dose and provide vaccine trial reports. BMC noted the estimated procurement cost to be around Rs 400 crore.

The municipal commissioner said that the city has a vaccine requirement of 1.5 crore in order to inoculate all those above the age of 18 years. The city is trying to acquire sufficient quantities of Coronavirus vaccines to vaccinate all eligible citizens and this needs to be done in the next 60-90 days.

Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government had allowed BMC to make its own arrangements for vaccines. The municipality is expecting bids from SII, Bharat Biotech, Sputnik, Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer and Moderna.