Page 10 - The Indian EYE 031221

NATION MARCH 12, 2021 | The Indian Eye 10

can us defense Production act

badly affect vaccine production by

serum institute?

Politicians and celebrities takes Covid-19 shots as vaccination

drives picks speed across India

Our Bureau

New Delhi

erum Institute of India
(SII), the world’s largest
Svaccine manufacturer by
volume, has sought the central
government’s intervention so as
to enable the firm import essen-
tial raw materials from the US
for uninterrupted manufactur-
ing and supply of Covid-19 vac-
cines.
In a letter to commerce sec-
retary Anup Wadhawan and for-
eign secretary Harsh Vardhan
Shringla, director, government
and regulatory affairs at Pune-
based SII, Prakash Kumar Singh
said the US government has in-
voked the Defense Production
Act because of which the firm
is facing difficulties in import-
ing necessary products like cell COVID19 vaccination doses made by the Serum Institute of India (ANI)
culture medias, raw material,
single-use tubing assemblies and ly from the US. facilitate expedited delivery in shortage of Covid-19 vaccines as
some specialty chemicals from “Through the Defense Pro- promotion of the US, national their manufacture depends on
the US. duction Act, the US government defense,” he said in the letter. uninterrupted supply of these
He said in the letter that Cov- has established two prioritiz- This essentially means that if raw materials, consumables and
ishield vaccine manufactured by ing systems, defense priorities the orders from US manufactur- components etc,” Singh said in
the SII is being widely used in In- and allocations system program ers are rated/prioritized under the letter dated March 6.
dia and across the globe and mil- (DPAS) and health resources the above-mentioned systems “I humbly request for your
lions of people have been vacci- priority and allocations system they take precedence over or- kind intervention to resolve this
nated with it. Singh further said (HRPAS). The HRPAS has two ders of manufacturers of other matter in larger public interest.
the Serum Institute is working principal components i.e. prior- countries, Singh stated. This will enable us to import
on many other Covid-19 vaccine ities and allocations. Under the He said the whole world is these essential products soon
projects in technical collabora- priority component, certain con- depending on mass manufac- from the US for uninterrupted
tion with various Institutions i.e. tracts between the government turing of Covid-19 vaccine at an manufacturing and supply of
Novavax (US), Codagenix (US) and private parties or between uninterrupted speed and scale Covid-19 Vaccines in India and
etc. for which it depends on im- private parties for the produc- to end the pandemic. “But if globally,” he said.
port of many necessary products tion or delivery of industrial we cannot get timely supplies Meanwhile, the vaccination
like raw materials, consumables resources required to produce of these essential products from drive in India is going on at full
and components from various Covid-19 vaccine will be given the US, it is going to be a serious steam, with elderly people queu-
foreign manufacturers, especial- priority over other contracts to limiting factor resulting in acute Continued on next page... >>

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