Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Saturday ordered the central government to produce an affidavit outlining how Covid-19 vaccinations will be distributed to states.
While hearing public interest litigation filed by Yogeeta Vanzara, a city resident, who raised concerns about issues faced by the public in obtaining Covid-19 vaccination appointments through the CoWin portal, a division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni issued this directive.
Advocate Jamsheed Master, who appeared on behalf of the petitioner, told the court that just 14 lakh individuals in Mumbai have been fully vaccinated, while 50 lakh have got the first dosage of the vaccine. ‘Only 6% of the city’s population is fully vaccinated,’ Master said, adding that at this rate, each person would be fully vaccinated in three to four years.
The bench stated that because vaccine allocation is a pan-India policy, it cannot instruct the Union government. The court, however, compelled the Centre to explain how vaccination orders are arranged with manufacturers and when vaccines are delivered. The Union government must also explain how it makes vaccination doses available to various state governments.
The state told the court in an affidavit that it collects vaccinations three times a week after receiving notice from the manufacturer, and then distributes the doses to immunisation centres around the state. The declaration, however, does not indicate how many vaccinations the state collects.
The Maharashtra State Family Welfare Bureau, which is in charge of allocating doses across the state, has been ordered to file an affidavit stating when it receives a communication from the Centre and why it is unable to inform the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) about the exact number of doses allocated in advance.
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The petitioner’s lawyer requested that the Serum Institute of India, which makes the Covishield vaccine, and Bharat Biotech, which manufactures the Covaxin vaccine, be included as respondents because they are India’s vaccine manufacturers.
‘Let the Union government file an affidavit, then we would consider adding them as respondents,’ the Chief Justice responded. The case has been rescheduled for a hearing on August 2.
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