Exploring vax rollout scope in India: Pfizer

Rupali Mukherjee & Naomi Canton | TNN

Mumbai/London: Even as the UK became the first country to grant an emergency approval to Pfizer-BioNTech’s Covid-19 vaccine globally, the US firm said it was “committed” to engaging with the Indian government to “explore opportunities” to roll it out here. The vaccine will be a challenge for India as it requires storage at -70 degrees, experts say.

Pfizer spokeswoman Roma Nair told TOI: “We are committed to advance our dialogue with the Indian government.” She added, “We are working with governments across the world to understand the infrastructure requirements of each country and we have logistical plans in place. We are confident the roll-out of our vaccine can be managed in India.”

Many countries such as the UK, the US and EU pre-ordered millions of doses of the vaccine using advance purchase agreements. India does not have a pre-order of Pfizer vaccine as yet. The cost of getting a jab could reportedly be up to $40-50 (Rs 2,950 to 3,700), rendering it unaffordable for developing countries.

However, a Pfizer official said the company was in talks with Gavi to potentially provide doses to the facility to support the needs of beneficiary countries. “We have temperature-controlled shippers utilizing dry ice to maintain recommended storage conditions up to 10 days. The intent is to utilize Pfizer-strategic transportation partners to ship by air to major hubs within a country/region and by ground transport to dosing locations.”

“Their whole production has been booked for 2021 by rich countries. India has not booked or created the infrastructure for ultra-cold storage and distribution of the vaccine. Hence, it looks unfeasible. The price is also beyond the Indian range of affordability,” ICMR former director general NK Ganguly said.

However, a Pfizer official said the company was in talks with Gavi to potentially provide doses to the facility to support the needs of beneficiary countries. “We have temperature-controlled shippers utilizing dry ice to maintain recommended storage conditions up to 10 days. The intent is to utilize Pfizer-strategic transportation partners to ship by air to major hubs within a country/region and by ground transport to dosing locations.”





Full report on www.toi.in