As India witnesses a shortage of vaccine, Pfizer is in discussions with the Indian government over supplies of its Covid-19 vaccine, the US drugmaker informed on Tuesday.
India has decided to fast-track approvals for overseas vaccines to meet the increasing demand for vaccines in the country and accelerate the vaccination drive.
"Pfizer remains committed to continuing our engagement with the government of India towards making the Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine available for use in the country," a spokeswoman told in an e-mailed statement.
Pfizer was in talks with the government to disable the tension over supplies.
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On state procurement tenders, the US pharma company said it will supply vaccines only to central governments.
"Pfizer will supply COVID-19 vaccine only to central governments and supranational organisations for deployment in national immunization programs. Allocation of doses and implementation plan within a country is a decision for local governments based on relevant health authority guidance," it said.
The development, manufacturing, distribution and storage of complex innovative products, including mRNA technology, demands globally optimized supply chains, Pfizer informed.
The spokesperson further said, "Since the beginning of this pandemic, Pfizer's priority has been to ensure rapid manufacturing and deployment of the COVID-19 vaccine to cater to the current emergency response scenario. We have a robust supply chain currently in place with established capabilities - one each in the US and one in Europe - that can quickly manufacture and deploy the vaccine for use across the world.”
Pfizer and BioNTech have aimed at delivering more than 2.5 billion vaccine doses in 2021.
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The firm has also targeted expanding the manufacturing capacities and increasing the supplier base for important materials to the supply chain.