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”.