Import of COVID vaccine raw material from US: Serum Institute asks Govt to intervene

'Through the Defence production Act, the US government has established two prioritizing systems, Defence Priorities and Allocations System Program (DPAS) and Health Resources Priority and Allocations System (HRPAS). The HRPAS has two principal components i.e. priorities and allocations. Under the priority component, certain contracts between the government and private parties or between private parties for the production or delivery of industrial resources required to produce COVID-19 vaccine will be given priority over other contracts to facilitate expedited delivery in promotion of the US, National defence,' he said in the letter.

This essentially means that if the orders from US manufacturers are rated/prioritized under the above-mentioned systems they take precedence over orders of manufacturers of other countries, Singh stated.

He said the whole world is depending on mass manufacturing of COVID-19 vaccine at an uninterrupted speed and scale to end the pandemic. 'But if we cannot get timely supplies of these essential products from the US, it is going to be a serious limiting factor resulting in acute shortage of COVID-19 vaccines as their manufacture depends on uninterrupted supply of these raw materials, consumables and components etc,' Singh said in the letter dated March 6.

'I humbly request for your kind intervention to resolve this matter in larger public interest. This will enable us to import these essential products soon from the US for uninterrupted manufacturing and supply of COVID-19 Vaccines in India and globally,' he said.