BJP Clears Air On Centre’s Vaccine Export, Says 84% Doses Sent Abroad Part Of Licensing Liabilities

New Delhi: Accusing the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) of spreading misinformation on the country’s vaccination programme, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday said over 84 percent of the vaccine doses sent abroad were part of the commercial and licensing liabilities of the two Indian manufacturers.

Asserting a “safer neighbourhood is good for India too”, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said 1.07 crore vaccine doses sent abroad were India’s aid to different nations.

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Underlining the same, Patra said 78.5 lakh of those vaccine doses were dispatched to seven neighbouring nations, adding over two lakh doses were given to the UN peace-keeping force in which over 6,600 Indian soldiers are deployed.

Continuing his outburst against the Congress and AAP, the BJP leader said misinformation is being spread that the government has exported over 6.63 crore vaccine doses abroad while not using those to inoculate the Indians infected with the virus.

 

Justifying his assertion, Patra said sending over 5.50 crore vaccine doses abroad were the compulsion of the two Indian manufacturers as it was part of their commercial and licensing liabilities.

Stating that the intellectual property rights over Covishield, manufactured in the country by the Serum Institute of India, are with a foreign firm Astrazeneca, the BJP leader said the Pune-based firm was obliged to send a part of the vaccines produced by it abroad.

He added the Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech sent vaccine doses abroad also because of the agreement they had signed to procure raw materials for preparing the jabs.

“In this global era, no country can exist as an island and there has to be cooperative globalisation,” he said.

Taking potshots at Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for asking the Centre to share the vaccine formula of the two Indian manufacturers with other capable pharmaceutical companies to scale up production in the country, Patra said the Serum Institute of India cannot do it because it has only been given the sub-license by Astrazeneca, which has the intellectual property rights over it.

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“The vaccine indigenously prepared by Bharat Biotech requires a high level of bio-safety, which only a few firms are capable of preparing, and the Centre is holding talks with them, including some public sector undertakings (PSUs), to scale up its production,” he added.

Alleging that Kejriwal only looks for a formula to keep appearing on television to stay relevant while blaming others, Patra rubbished the Delhi Government’s claim that it had placed orders for over 1.34 crore vaccine doses and cited its letters to say that it only talked of “planning to procure” which, he added, is different from placing an order.

Earlier on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had said that the Centre has allotted only 3.5 lakh doses of Covishield and Covaxin in May while Delhi had placed orders for 1.34 crore doses with manufacturers.