new delhi as soon as pfizer indicated vaccine availability the central government and the company started working together for the earliest possible import of the vaccine niti aayog member vk paul said on thursdaypaul in a statement on myth and facts on indias vaccination process pointed out that vaccines are in limited supply globally and companies have their own priorities gameplans and compulsions in allocating finite stocksas soon as pfizer indicated vaccine availability the central government and the company are working together for the earliest possible import of the vaccine paul who is also the head of indias covid19 task force saidpaul the chair of the national expert group on vaccine administration for covid19 negvac has said that as a result of the central governments efforts sputnik vaccine trials got accelerated and with timely approval russia has already sent two tranches of vaccines and accomplished techtransfer to indian companies that would start manufacturing very soonwe reiterate our request to all international vaccine makers to come and make in india for india and for the world he saidthe niti aayog member said the centre has engaged continuously with all the major international vaccine manufacturers right from mid2020 multiple rounds of discussions have happened with pfizer jj moderna the government offered all assistance to have them supply andor manufacture their vaccines in india he saidhowever paul noted that it is not that their vaccines are available in free supply we need to understand that buying vaccines internationally is not similar to buying off the shelf items he saidaccording to sources pfizer has told indian authorities that its jab has shown high effectiveness against the sarscov2 variant prevalent in india and on people of indian ethnicity or nationality while it is suitable for everyone aged 12 years or above and can be stored for a month at 28 degreespfizer which is ready to offer 5 crore doses to india between july and october this year has sought certain relaxations including indemnification has held a series of interactions with the indian government authorities recently including one this week during which it shared the most recent data points regarding efficacy trials and approvals for its vaccine in various countries and by the world health organisation whopaul also refuted the claim by some opposition leaders that the centre is not doing enough to rampup domestic production of vaccinesthe central government is playing the role of an effective facilitator to enable more companies to produce vaccines from early 2020there is only 1 indian company bharat biotech which has the ip the government of india has ensured that 3 other companiesplants will start production of covaxin apart from enhancing bharat biotechs own plants which have increased from 1 to 4 he arguedpaul further said that covaxin production by bharat biotech is being increased from under 1 crore per month to 10 crore per month by octoberindia is currently using mainly two madein india jabs covishield manufactured by the serum institute and covaxin of bharat biotech