Nagpur: According to Reuters citing three government sources, India will not buy Covid-19 shots from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna because domestic output of more affordable and easier-to-store vaccines has jumped.
The most popular vaccines globally will not be available in the world’s two most populated countries—China and India. The makers of the vaccine had pledged not to sell the vaccines to private parties during the pandemic.
The Indian government has further declined to meet the US companies requests for legal protection over any side-effects from the use of their shots, according to sources. No company has received such protection in India.
One of the sources claimed “Earlier there was a shortage, there was a need,” as it referred to India’s appeal to get the vaccines when there was a shortage. The source added that their prices will be high. “Why should we take on their conditions?” said one of the sources.
Pfizer-BioNTech on Monday announced that their coronavirus vaccine has been shown to be safe and highly effective in young children aged 5 to 11 years.
