Global Tender For COVID-19 Vaccines: Odisha Govt Revises Norms To Enable More Vaccine Makers To Participate

Bhubaneswar: Procuring more COVID-19 vaccines is the need of the hour and that can happen only if more and more vaccine manufacturers are able to participate in the global tender floated by the Odisha government.

To facilitate this, the state government has relaxed certain terms and conditions in the global tender document for procurement of the COVID19 vaccine. Manufacturers or their importers approved by USFDA (the United States Food and Drug Administration), EMA (the European Medicines Agency), MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, UK) or PMDA (Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency, Japan) or listed by WHO (World Health Organization) for emergency use are eligible to bid for the global tender or listed by the World Health Organisation (WHO) for emergency use now eligible to bid.

Purchase orders for the COVID vaccine will be placed to the qualified bidders subject to the approval of the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI), said an Odisha State Medical Corporation Ltd (OSMCL) notification.

All other terms and conditions of the tender shall remain the same, it added.