The State government has decided to purchase vaccines directly from manufacturing companies as the two companies that had submitted bids in response to global tenders for supply of vaccines have not submitted the required documents, said Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan.
Mr. Narayan, who is also the chairman of the State COVID-19 Task Force, told reporters here on Monday that one company from Bengaluru and another from Mumbai had not annexed the required technical as well as supply-related documents. They didn’t even participate in the virtual meetings later.
In this context, the process of communication has begun directly with vaccine manufacturing companies as the government was not in a position to wait, he said.
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In response to Karnataka’s global tender, while Mumbai-based Bulk MRO Industrial Supply, a US government-registered vendor, had offered to start supply of the first batch of Sputnik V vaccine within two weeks of receiving the order, the second vendor, Bengaluru-based Thulasi Systems, had offered to start the supply of vaccine in 30 days.