COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer Moderna Inc has refused to send supplies of its COVID-19 vaccine directly to Punjab, state nodal officer Vikas Garg said in a statement on Sunday.
According to the US pharmaceutical firm's policy, they will only deal with the Government of India and not with any state government or private parties, Grag added.
"One of a Covid vaccine manufacturer ‘Moderna’ has refused to send direct vaccination to Punjab government as according to their policy, they only deal with Government of India & not with any state govt or private parties, disclosed Nodal Officer for vaccination Mr Vikas Garg," Punjab government tweeted
Reportedly, the Punjab government had approached Sputnik V, Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson after being directed by the Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh. However, only Moderna has replied till now.
Meanwhile, Punjab has been forced to stop vaccinations due to unavailability of vaccines for the last three days.
Punjab has been been able to buy only 4.2 lakh vaccine doses, including 66,000 received yesterday, under the Centre's Phase 3 (18-44 age group) allocation. Up to 3.65 lakh of these have already been used up, leaving only 64,000 now, Garg said in a statement.
"All efforts are being made for procurement of vaccines to meet the acute shortage in the state, which had received fewer than 44 lakh vaccine doses so far from the Government of India,” he added.
