Central Govt Likely To Grant Indemnity To Moderna; Makes Way For Import Of 7 Million Covid-19 Vaccine Doses From US

The central government is set to provide protection to pharmaceutical giant Moderna against legal liability that will make way for immediate import of seven million doses of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine.

The US government has donated these shots and it will be delivered to India upon the resolution of this indemnity issue.

Last week, the Drugs Controller General of India (DCGI) had allowed pharma company Cipla to import these donated doses of the m-RNA vaccine produced by Moderna.

“While India is agreeing to indemnity, we have asked them to suitably modify certain words in the agreement. Wordings make a difference; the analysing and understanding have to be country-specific,” one of the officials from the government was quoted in a report by the Economic Times.

He added, “They need to be refined and that’s what has led to some delay.”

The officer mentioned that the government is anticipating a few million doses of donation from the US government. He further asserted that this quantity would be rather miniscule and hence the country will be relying on its own vaccine production for the inoculation program.

About 33,81,671 people were given their Covid-19 vaccine shots in India on Wednesday, according to a report from the Hindustan Times.