On Monday, 10 million vaccine doses from vacinal manufacturers abroad were provided to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for expressing interest (EOI)
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), was hosting ten million vaccine doses from abroad. The BMC decided on Monday that the vaccination process would be accelerated.
According to BMC the manufacturers themselves will have to take all clearances (from the centre) with respect to vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson. However, Chinese manufacturers have been barred from taking part in the procurement process by restricting the participation of countries bordering India
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the BMC said, “To supply one crore (10 million) doses of Covid prevention vaccine, BMC has published a Global Expression of Interest (EoI) inviting various companies to submit proposals. This notice has been published today (May 12, 2021) and according to this, EoI are to be submitted to the BMC by 1pm on May 18, 2021. The proposals will be unveiled on the same day, May 18, 2021, at 3pm. If the BMC issues a work order, the entire vaccine will have to be supplied to the concerned companies within three weeks.”
It’s two days since the BMC was nodded to float a global tender on Monday by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Minister Aaditya Thackeray tweeted on Monday from Mumbai suburbs,
Municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said, “BMC has floated global bid to procure one crore Covid vaccines at the earliest. BMC has resolved to make every possible effort in future and also to acquire sufficient quantity of Covid vaccines to vaccinate all eligible citizens of Mumbai on a war-footing in the next 60-90 days.”
P Velrasu, additional municipal commissioner of the BMC said, “We have floated just the expression of interest, and have put a condition that all certification and approvals vaccine manufacturers will need, they will have to get it from the government of India, drug controller. The EoI, for now, is to procure ten million doses, and regarding indemnity issues, we have mentioned that the best international practice will be followed. Ultimately, we all will be bound by conditions of the Central government.”
Velrasu also affirmed that BMC also made conditional on applicants not belonging to India-border countries that would limit Chinese vaccine manufacturers’ entry.
Further, given that several Western vaccines require mandatory cold storage temperature at a minimum, BMC has made the arrangement of such a facility compulsory for manufacturers. The BMC has been mentioned in the EOI document, “BMC has cold storage facilities consisting of walk-in cooler (WIC) 2 in no. with 40 cum capacity each. The temperature of WIC is+20 to +80C. If the covid vaccine requires storage and temperature requirements other than that available with the B, C, the applicant will have to provide the required storage facility for the Covid Vaccine, till the vaccination points. Currently, MCGM has 20 hospitals and 240 vaccination centres.”
The document further adds, “The applicant should have their own cold chain transporting system from their manufacturing unit or should have a valid contract with a transporting agent having facilities to transport Covid Vaccines under cold chain norms to the storage facility / any of the hospitals/ vaccination centres within BMC jurisdiction.”
