Over 84% Covid vaccines exported were part of the commercial, licensing liabilities: BJP

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 12

The ruling BJP on Wednesday accused the Congress and AAP of “spreading misinformation” on India’s vaccination programme, saying that over 84 per cent of vaccine doses sent abroad were part of the commercial and licensing liabilities of the two Indian manufacturers.

According to BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra, 1.07 crore vaccine doses were India’s aid to different countries. Of which, 78.5 lakh were to seven neighbouring countries. A safer neighbourhood is good for India, too, he said.

More than two lakh doses were given to the UN peace-keeping force, in which over 6,600 Indian soldiers are deployed, he added.

Targeting Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, he said “misinformation is being spread that the Narendra Modi government exported over 6.5 crore vaccine doses abroad instead of using them to inoculate Indians”. “This misinformation is being spread that Indians were ignored and vaccines were sent abroad. In this global era, no country can exist as an island and there has to be cooperative globalisation,” he said.

Patra said sending over 5.50 crore vaccine doses abroad was the compulsion of the two Indian manufacturers as it was part of their commercial and licensing liabilities. Intellectual property rights over Covishield, manufactured in India by the Serum Institute of India (SII), are with AstraZeneca, he said, adding that the SII was obliged to send a part of the vaccines produced by it abroad. The SII and Bharat Biotech, which manufactures Covaxin, had signed to procure raw materials for preparing the jabs.

Regarding Kejriwal 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 SII cannot do it because it has only been given the sub-licence by AstraZeneca, which has the intellectual property rights over it.

The vaccine produced by the Bharat Biotech requires a high level of biosafety, which only a few firms are capable of preparing, and the Centre is holding talks with them, including PSUs, to scale up its production, he added. All institutions are working day and night to boost vaccine production, Patra said, asking Kejriwal and other AAP leaders not to politicise the issue. 

The BJP leader also trashed 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.