Tamil Nadu’s global tender for COVID-19 vaccines, which closed on Saturday, did not attract any bidders. This has put the State’s plans to vaccinate nearly 3.6 crore people in the 18-44 age group in jeopardy.
On May 15, the Tamil Nadu Medical Services Corporation (TNMSC) floated a global tender for the supply of 3.5 crore vaccines with a delivery schedule of 180 days, progressively, from the date of the purchase order. June 5 was the last date for the tender.
A senior official confirmed that the global tender had fetched no response from bidders.
“This is the same situation as in some other States. Bidders are not willing to overlook the Government of India and supply directly to the States,” an official said.
He added that there was no point in extending the deadline for the tender.
“We need to assess the prospects and decide,” he added.
Oral, injectable vaccines
In the tender document, the TNMSC had called for COVID-19 vaccines, with the dosage form of oral or injectable, liquid or freeze dried, type being live attenuated, manufactured from purified inactivated, obtained from human plasma or manufactured using recombinant DNA technology, etc., which can be stored in 2-8 degrees Celsius.
The State government had decided to float a global tender to procure vaccines as allocation from the Centre was insufficient to vaccinate people in the 18-44 age group.
