Chandigarh, May 13: Global tenders would be floated by the Haryana government for procurement of COVID-19 vaccines to ensure that all those above 18 in the state are inoculated, Health Minister Anil Vij said on Thursday. During the past few weeks, COVID cases in Haryana have witnessed a surge.
The number of total active cases in the state, as on May 12, were 1,07,058. In a tweet, Vij said, “Haryana will float Global tenders to purchase Corona Vaccine for people of Haryana so that free vaccination could be provided to every 18+ citizens of the State at the earliest.”
States like Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Delhi have already opted for global tenders to meet their needs.
The Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech’s indigenously developed Covaxin and Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, being manufactured by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), are currently being used in India’s inoculation drive against coronavirus.
Later, interacting with reporters this evening, Vij said, “We want that the entire eligible population should be covered under vaccination at the earliest. Therefore, we have decided to float global tender because what we are getting domestically is slightly less.” He said the state has sought 66 lakh vaccines from two companies manufacturing these in India. (PTI)
