The government has got a request for indemnity cover from vaccine maker Pfizer and is examining it, said Vinod K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog, on Thursday.

“They (Pfizer) have requested indemnity in all countries, including the US. They want their liability to be indemnified, which they have expressed in the legal language.

“We are examining this request, and we will take a decision in the larger interest of people and on merit. We have not taken any decision as yet,” said Paul during a media briefing.

Pfizer has indicated availability of vaccines and the government is looking at their expectations. They have to come to India and apply for licensing, and also there are imperatives of cold chain, supply, which are also being looked at, Paul further stated.

A Pandora’s box

If the government concedes to the demand of Pfizer, it could open up a Pandora’s box, as Indian vaccine makers such as Serum Institute of India, too, had demanded an indemnity cover from the government but were not granted till date.

Meanwhile, the government had already allowed the vaccines – which have been approved in select developed countries such as US, UK, Japan and some European Countries by their competent regulatory authories – or is among the Emergency Use Listing approved by the WHO to be used in India without any further trials. On the declining trend in positivity rate, he said it must be remembered that it is being achieved because of significant restrictions in most States, coordinated with testing, vaccination, and Covid-appropriate behaviour.

Regarding mixing up of vaccines between first and second dose, he said: “Our protocol is clear that the second dose should be of the same vaccine as the first one...There is unlikely that there will be significant adverse effects, even if someone gets the different doses of vaccines,” he said.

On whether antibody tests should be done after taking both doses, he said it should not be done after taking both doses as this is not the only measure to measure immunity, and cell-mediated immunity response is more critical in medium- to long-term. Besides, studies are going on with regard to booster dose, based on which timing of booster dose, and other details will be made available.

Covid cases

Meanwhile, India maintained a declining trend in daily Covid 19 cases, and it reported less than 3 lakh cases for the 11th consecutive day. The daily infections stood at 2,11,298, with 3,847 deaths in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning. Cumulatively, the country reported 2,73,69,093 infections, of which, total active cases stood at 24,19,907, those who recovered were 2,46,33,951 and death tollat 315235. Furthermore, India administered 20,26,95,874 vaccine doses so far, with 18,85,805 shots given in the last 24 hours till Thursday morning

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