India may try to find 'middle ground' for usage and export of J&J single-shot jab

The Indian government may initiate a fresh round of talks with Johnson & Johnson to find a middle ground on domestic usage and export of its vaccines manufactured by Biological E in India, as per a News18 report.

The move comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Modi promising to export 80 lakh doses of the same vaccine to the US by October, during the Quad summit.

According to a senior government official privy to the development, the Centre and the company have to explore a “middle ground".

“The promised doses will be exported without any doubt. However, a strategy needs to be put in place where India may take a share of the monthly production of J&J’s vaccine for domestic use. For this, we need to resolve their demand for indemnity. All these talks will be initiated to find a middle ground," the official said.

For now, the official said, the government is planning to ask for 50 percent share of the total monthly vaccine production. “If the vaccine is being produced in India, we should be allowed to take 50 percent share from its production for our own people. Once we vaccinate our entire population, the company can start exporting more.”

News18 reached Johnson & Johnson for comments. However, the mail did not fetch a response immediately.

Indemnity demands of Pfizer, Moderna on backburner

India is set to make 8 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine available by October-end, prime minister Modi had announced during the Quad Summit last weekend. The US pharma giant’s COVID-19 vaccine is being manufactured by India’s Hyderabad-based vaccine maker Biological E.

Modi, under the Quad vaccine partnership, announced the resumption of vaccine exports.

“We are not in a tight spot where we need foreign vaccines including Pfizer and Moderna. The discussions with them have been put on the backburner. However, J&J is being manufactured in India,” he had said.

J&J and Bio E  have already sent  35 lakh doses of vaccine for quality testing to the Central Drugs Laboratory in Kasauli.

“We need to figure out if the company plans to export these batches or they have been tested for technical reasons,” the official said while adding that for domestic use the issue of indemnity — that J&J has been demanding — needs to be sorted first.