K’taka govt decides to call for fresh bids for Sputnik

Bengaluru: Deputy chief minister CN Ashwath Narayan on Saturday said that the state government will call for fresh global bids for Sputnik Vaccine with some new conditions and that government has rejected the bids of two companies that quoted exorbitant rates.

The government had floated the tender, seeking 2 crore doses in four instalments of 50 lakh each, to boost the vaccination drive that has been hit by a severe shortage of vaccines. The government has approved Rs 843 crore for this purpose.

In response to the tender, Bulk MRO Industrial Supply Pvt Ltd of Mumbai by offering to supply the Sputnik V vaccine, while Thulasi Systems of Bengaluru said it could provide the single-dose Sputnik Light vaccine.

The government’s rejection of the two bids came after Dr Reddy’s, a Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical company, announced that it has “sole distribution rights” to the first 250 million doses of Sputnik and that it has no “partnership or collaboration” with any other entity to supply the vaccine.

Ashwath Narayan on Friday said, “They have quoted very high rates. They will be rejected. I have asked officials to extend the time limit for participation in the tender, given that things are slowly settling down and production of vaccines is happening.”