Bhubaneswar: With the announcement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide free Covid-19 vaccine to all above 18 years from June 21, the State Government is likely to cancel the global tender floated for procurement of Copvid-19 vaccines.
This announcement of the Prime Minister came as a major relief for the State, which was struggling hard to get vaccines for inoculation of its 18 to 44 age group people.
“We are waiting for the official communication from the Centre. Based on the announcement made by the Prime Minister, there is no relevance of the global tender if all vaccines are supplied by the Government of India,” a senior official of Health Department said.
Despite taking various efforts, the state has failed to get good response for its global tender. It has received only two bids foe which price was scheduled to open on June 9 at 11 AM.
On May 14, the Odisha State Medical Corporation Limited (OSMCL) had floated the global tender. To attract the vaccine manufacturers from across the globe, the State Cabinet first relaxed the norms and later extended the last date for submission of bid documents of global tender.
On June 1, the State Health Minister Naba Kishore Das had urged Centre to have a national level policy for procurement and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines among states.
On the next day, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had also written to all his counterparts in India in this regard. The best option available is for the Centre to centrally procure vaccines and distribute them among the states so that the people are vaccinated at the earliest, Patnaik had suggested in his letter.