With indemnity talks still on; Moderna offers to sell booster shots from January

US vaccine giant Moderna has offered to sell booster shots of the COVID-19 vaccine to India from January 2022.

As the government continues to hold negotiations with Moderna and Johnson & Johnson on indemnity waiver, Moderna has offered to sell booster doses of its COVID-19 vaccines to India.

Presently, the talks involve the sale of 200 million doses. 50 million from Pfizer, 70 million from J&J, and 50 million from Moderna. India’s budget for anti-COVID shots is currently estimated to be around Rs 45,000 to Rs 50,000 crores. However, the discussions point out later, which means that procurement of these doses will have little impact on India’s present budget for COVID-19 vaccines. The latest US offer that proposes 8 crore shots for India will be useful if delivered soon. This is because domestic production in India is expected to rise from August onwards.

“We are still awaiting details of how many vaccines is to be donated by the US in the first tranche of 25 million,” an MEA spokesperson said.

According to US officials, the vaccines donated would be either Moderna, Pfizer or J&J. The MEA official had said that Bharat Biotech has sought emergency use listing (EUL) from WHO for Covaxin. Even Russia has sought EUL for its COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V.

On a different note, Indians who had been vaccinated with Covaxin have been facing hurdles in foreign countries. To this, the official US spokesperson responded, “We are working to protect the interests of Indian abroad. We are taking up issues with the concerned government.”

 

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