The global Covid vaccine collaboration COVAX says all participants in the facility must have signed the indemnity agreements with the manufacturers in question to receive doses through COVAX.
Before the Moderna and Pfizer messenger ribonucleic acid (or mRNA) vaccines come to India via this route, the legalities around the indemnity clause will have to be settled.
India is expecting 3-4 million doses of Covid vaccines from US majors Moderna and Pfizer soon, claimed Reuters. The international agency said around 3-4 million shots are expected in India through the COVAX facility in August.
COVAX, led by the Gavi vaccine alliance and the World Health Organization, is likely to ship US-made vaccine doses to India as early as this month.
Senior government officials, too, confirmed that procuring vaccine doses through COVAX is an option being actively considered. “Bringing Pfizer and Moderna vaccines through COVAX is one of the routes under consideration,” reiterated an official.
All doses delivered through COVAX are covered by its no-fault compensation programme.
A spokesperson for Gavi told Business Standard, “All facility participants must have signed the indemnity agreements with the manufacturers to receive doses through COVAX — this will also be true for doses received via bilateral deals.”