Received bid for Pfizer vaccine, says BMC; company denies

The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) said on Tuesday that it has received eight bids for the global tender floated by it for the procurement of 10 million Covid-19 vaccine doses. MCGM commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal said one bid has been received for the supply for Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines from a Czech Republic-based company called O2 Blue Energy while the rest are for the supply of Sputnik V vaccines. “The time period has been extended by one week to enable the various bidders to submit a complete set of documents in support of the bids as prescribed under MCGM’s global expression of interest. Any additional bid shall also be entertained,” said Chahal.

Pfizer, however, told ET it has not authorised any company to bid on its behalf. “Neither Pfizer nor any of its affiliates globally, including in India, have authorised anyone to import/market/distribute the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine,” said a Pfizer spokesperson. “As stated earlier, during this pandemic phase, across the world, Pfizer is supplying its Covid vaccine only to central governments and supra-national organisations.... We continue to have discussions with the government of India towards making our vaccine available for use nationally.”