Moderna refuses to sell Covid-19 vaccines to Punjab as state faces shortage

Vaccine manufacturer ‘Moderna’ has refused to sell Covid-19 vaccines to Punjab and said they only deal with the Government of India and not with state governments or private parties.

Punjab Nodal Officer for vaccination Vikas Garg said that all vaccine manufacturers were approached for direct purchase of various Covid vaccines, including Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, as per the directions of Chief Minister Amarinder Singh.

This was done after the state government decided to explore possibilities of floating a global tender for the procurement of vaccines from all possible sources to ensure early inoculation in the state.

Garg said that reply was received from Moderna which refused to deal with the State Government.

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Punjab had to stop vaccination for Phase I & Phase II categories over the last three days because of non-availability of vaccines.

Garg said Punjab had received 44 lakh doses of vaccines from the central government till date.

As per Central allocation for Phase III (18-44 age group), Punjab has been able to buy only 4.2 lakh vaccine doses, including 66,000 received on Saturday.

A total of 3.65 Lakh have already been used, leaving only 64000 for use as of now, Garg said.