On Wednesday, the High Court of Gujarat asked the State Govt to consider keeping aside some percentage of COVID-19 vaccines for beneficiaries availing spot registration, especially in rural areas where people have no access to online registration for getting inoculated.
The division bench of Justices Bela Trivedi & Bhargav D Karia asked Advocate General (AG), Kamal Trivedi if the Govt can set aside 10% to 20% of COVID-19 vaccines allotted for a particular centre for beneficiaries availing spot registration.
While the Centre has allowed on-site registration & appointment for people in the age group of 18-44 on the CoWin platform, the Gujarat Govt has maintained that it will conduct the vaccination through the present system, wherein a prior registration & appointment is required to receive jabs.
"Out of 100, can't you keep 10 or 20 for spot registration? Suppose you have 100 allocated for today, you can register online for 80, remaining 20 can be kept for spot registration," Justice Karia said while hearing a PIL filed suo motu (on its own) on the COVID-19 pandemic & related issues.
Why can't the State Govt provide spot registration for people who have no access whatsoever to the same? he further asked, adding that it may be done for rural areas of the state if not the urban.
The AG informed the court that out of 6.5 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines required for beneficiaries in the 18-44 age group, orders have been placed for 3 crore doses with two domestic manufacturers, who have told the Govt that they are unable to maintain consistent supply.
The manufacturers won't commit to supply the entire order, Trivedi said.
The manufacturers are supplying 1 to 2 lakh doses on a daily basis, & 13,68,650 doses of Covishield & 2,49,240 of Covaxin were received in May, he said.
The Govt has been assured a supply of 8,30,140 Covishield & 2,46,880 Covaxin doses in June, he said.
To this, the Court remarked if the State Govt was following a "five-year plan" for vaccine procurement.
In terms of a global tender for procuring vaccines, Trivedi said none of the state governments has been able to finalise tender for the same, & furthermore, money for 3 crore vials has already been paid to the two domestic companies.
The Court said that "We are not doubting the bona fides of the government, but there has to be some more action taken, you will have to find out some other sources".
On the issue of vaccine wastage, the Govt told the Court that the process is being supervised.
When asked by the court about the time gap between two doses, Assistant Solicitor General Devang Vyas said it was only for Covishield, & that too, based on a scientific study to assess its efficacy in India & abroad.
The next hearing on the matter is scheduled on June 15.
SOURCE ' /www.ndtv.com
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