Making awards based only on price is dangerous. Quality is the first consideration. The safety and efficacy of the vaccines cannot be determined through laboratory testing. Vaccines are heat sensitive. Cold-room capacity must be available at the time the vaccines are delivered.
Vaccination therefore has a national impact on public health.
The quality of the finished product cannot be determined only by laboratory testing. Vaccination is preventive and administered to healthy persons to prevent illness. The patient cannot judge the quality of the treatment. At the present time, there are no more than 20 manufacturers exporting vaccines. Children immunized with low quality vaccines may die from the diseases which the vaccines are meant to prevent.