SC calls Centre’s policy for vaccines ‘irrational’
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court has called the central government’s vaccination policy of vaccinating those aged above 45 years for free and those in the 18-45 years age group “prima facie, arbitrary and irrational”, and asked the Centre to place on record all relevant documents and the purchase history till date of vaccines including Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V.
Flagging several loopholes in the vaccination policy, a special bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao and S Ravindra Bhat held that the liberalized vaccination policy in the third phase “conflicts with this constitutional balance of responsibilities between the Centre and states” by putting the burden of vaccination of persons between 18-45 years of age on the latter.
“While filing it’s affidavit, UoI shall also ensure that copies of all the relevant documents and file notings reflecting its thinking and culminating in the vaccination policy are also annexed on the vaccination policy. Hence, we direct the UoI to file its affidavit within 2 weeks,” the bench said in its May 31 order uploaded on Wednesday on its website.
The bench asked the Centre to ensure that each issue dealt by it in the order is responded to individually. “The complete data on the Central Government’s purchase history of all the COVID-19 vaccines till date (Covaxin, Covishield and Sputnik V). The data should clarify: (a) the dates of all procurement orders placed by the Central Government for all 3 vaccines; (b) the quantity of vaccines ordered as on each date; and (c) the projected date of supply,” the bench said.
On May 31, the top court highlighted “digital divide” between rural and urban India and posed searching queries to the Centre on mandatory registration on CoWIN for Covid vaccines, its procurement policy and differential pricing, saying the policy makers “must have ears on ground” to effectively deal with the “unprecedented” crisis.
Asking the Centre to “smell the coffee” and ensure that Covid-19 vaccines are available at the same price across the nation, the top court advised the government to be flexible with its policies to deal with the “dynamic pandemic situation”.
The top court’s order came in a suo motu case on Covid-19 management as the central government faces mounting criticism for its failure to secure vaccines for the country’s people as a devastating second wave rips through the vast hinterland. India is the largest manufacturer of vaccines.
So far, India has administered 216 million doses since the drive began in January.
The government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly deflected criticism, releasing a document last week that rebutted what it said were “myths”.
It said the government has been “engaged continuously” with vaccine-makers since mid2020 but the companies had their own “priorities, game
plans and compulsions in allocation finite stocks”.
Union minister of state for home affairs, G Kishan Reddy, said on Wednesday that the government is working to import vaccines and that it should not be turned into a political issue.
“The government has made action plans to vaccinate everyone by the end of December (2021) and for the production of 250 crore vaccine doses after speaking to several pharma companies. Sputnik arrived in Hyderabad yesterday and discussions are on to get the Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson shots too,” Reddy said. “Vaccination should not be seen from a political point of view.”
His statement refers to the government’s statement a day before that India will be in a position to vaccinate 10 million people every day by July or August and that the country will deliver doses to all eligible individuals by the end of the year. Officials, however, have not clarified where the doses would come from.
In May, India delivered an average of 1.93 million doses a day and several states ran out of supplies by the fourth week of the month for at least some groups of recipients.
Experts say the government’s target will depend on availability of doses, which for June has been pegged at 120 million.
Several states have also asked the Modi government of not leaving it up to the state governments alone to procure doses for the 18-45 age group.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik said the state has requested Union health minister Harsh Vardhan to procure Covid-19 vaccines for the state at the country-level as global vaccine manufacturers have asked for resolution of indemnity issues with the central government only.