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Aiming to procure vaccines from across the globe, the UP government has eased the rules including halving earnest money deposit amount for the global tender and also announced major relaxations in its terms and conditions in order to widen the scope of more suppliers joining to increase the supply of vaccines in the state.
“The decision has been taken to increase the pace of vaccination in UP. It will allow several global vaccine companies, including Pfizer and Moderna among others, to participate and provide vaccines, thereby increasing the availability of vaccines in the state. Besides, this will also give more options to the people to choose their preferred vaccine,”  a government spokesman said in Lucknow on Monday.
Earlier on May 7, the Yogi government issued a global tender to purchase Covid-19 vaccines and enhance its availability in the state and carry out the vaccination drive on war-footing. The government had earlier fixed an earnest money amount for the global tender at Rs 16 crore besides fixing terms and conditions regarding temperature and storage of vaccines.
On May 12, a pre-bid meeting with representatives of vaccine manufacturers was held to discuss the tender process which was attended by representatives of Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech etc. After the deliberations, the government announced many relaxations in the terms and conditions of the tender. The government also plans to involve more companies in the tender to increase supply of vaccines in the state, speed up vaccination and provide more vaccine options to the people.
The state government reduced the earnest money amount from Rs 16 crore to Rs 8 crore, the condition of vaccine storage at 2 to 8 degree Celsius was also relaxed. “Thus, manufacturers of vaccines that can be stored at temperatures ranging from -20 to -80 degree Celsius will also be able to participate in the tender,” the official said.
This has cleared the way for companies such as Pfizer and Moderna to join the tender. Companies will have to safely transport Covid-19 vaccines to the government warehouse and also arrange for storage of vaccines at -20 to -80 degree Celsius.
Companies from neighboring countries, including China, will have to get the approval of the Central government to join the global tender for Covid-19 vaccine. On July 23, 2020, the Ministry of Finance had laid down rules for the supply of Covid vaccines from neighboring countries. Companies would  be required to register with the prescribed authority of the Central government for vaccine supply.