Mahindra Group’s chairman Anand Mahindra took to Twitter on Monday to call pharma giant Cipla’s efforts to bring Moderna’s vaccine to India as ”excellent news.” He was reacting to a report from news agency PTI which revealed that Cipla was close to committing $1 billion as advance payment in order to bring Moderna’s booster vaccine against Covid-19 to India. Mahindra also hoped that the central government would quickly grant the exemptions required by Moderna and Cipla for the deal to go through.
This is excellent news. I pray that the Government swiftly grants Cipla and Moderna the exemptions required. 🙏🏽 A copious supply of a variety of vaccines made by world -renowned companies like Cipla will be our only true defense against a third—and all future—waves. https://t.co/oSmsVk8Iyd
— anand mahindra (@anandmahindra) May 31, 2021
It may be recalled that Cipla has been in talks with the American mRNA vaccine maker Moderna to bring around 5 crore doses of its new single-dose Covid-19 vaccine to the country in the year 2022. Prior to this development, Moderna had made it clear to the central government that it will not be able to supply any vaccine doses to India in the current year.
Now Cipla has asked the central government to help the company get the vaccines. Reportedly, the pharma company has requested the government to grant indemnification i.e., protection from getting sued in case of an adverse reaction to the vaccine. Cipla also wants exemptions from price capping, bridging trials and customs duty. Earlier, the company had asked for a ‘stable regulatory framework’ with regards to procurement of the vaccines.
“A copious supply of a variety of vaccines made by world-renowned companies like Cipla will be our only true defense against a third—and all future—waves,” Anand Mahindra added.
