Moderna doses not available for India till next year, says report

According to an internal government report, the Indian government’s discussions with US pharmaceutical giant Moderna about including its mRNA technology-based coronavirus disease (Covid-19) vaccine in the country’s vaccine programme may take until 2022 because the US company’s supplies are “fully booked until 2021.”

The report, a copy of which was reviewed by the Hindustan Times, added that the government has gone through indemnity agreements of pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer with other countries and noted that indemnity clauses are part of purchase agreements.

The government set up a five-member team of senior officials headed by Niti Aayog Member (Health) to deal with issues related to procurement of Covid-19 vaccines from foreign manufacturers The team also includes officials from the external affairs ministry, health ministry and the department of legal affairs.

“Discussions with Moderna yielded their interest in supplies of their vaccine only in 2022 as their orders were fully booked for the year 2021. Moderna’s leadership also showed interest in a discussion for production of Moderna vaccines in India in next few years,” the report added.