The Central Procurement Agency (CPA), on the orders of the Delhi government’s Directorate General of Health Services, has issued a tender globally to purchase one crore doses of Corona vaccine. Applications have been sought from vaccine-making companies by June 7. The order in the tender states that the vaccine should be approved by the regulatory agency of India. So far, in addition to Covishield and Covaxin in the country, Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine has been approved for emergency use. However, the tender provides that if a foreign vaccine has not yet been approved for use in India, the manufacturer can apply for approval from the Central Pharmaceutical Standards Control Organization (CDSCO). Companies can provide vaccines upon approval from CDSCO.

The Health Department has also asked the companies to provide information along with the application that how much vaccine will be given in a week, eight to 15 days, 16-23 days, 24-31 days and 31-45 days when the vaccine is ordered to be supplied.

In the month of March, after the demand of the Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and other opposition leaders to relax and decentralize the rules for the purchase and management of vaccines, the central government has allowed the states to buy vaccines directly from companies, but now The Delhi government is demanding the central government to issue a tender on behalf of all states globally. However, many states have issued tenders at their level. In such a situation, the scope of the center’s intervention in this matter has reduced now. In view of this, the Health Department of Delhi Government has also finally issued the tender.