Why you're not providing free vaccines to citizens: Kerala HC to Centre

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the Centre why it was not providing vaccines for free to the citizens.

The suggestion was made in the wake of COVID-19 vaccine shortages being faced across States in India and given that the Centre can procure the vaccines at a lesser price than the price fixed for State procurement.

A Bench of Justice Chandran and MR Anitha was hearing a batch of matters concerning COVID-19 vaccination.

Justice Devan Ramachandran on May 7 had taken up this issue suo-moto with regard to vaccination.

Under the new policy, the Centre can procure the vaccines at Rs 150. On the other hand, the States can procure the vaccine at Rs 400 (COVISHIELD) and Rs 600 (COVAXIN).

"You've got so much money. Why don't you do something about it? If the central government procures (vaccines), you get it at Rs 150 rupees ... Is it not the right time for you to do it?", Justice Chandran asked the Centre today.

The court pointed out that even though it would cost Rs 34,000 crore, the Centre has with it Rs 54,000 crore by way of dividend from the Reserve Bank of India.

The court also highlighted that this was not the time to look into matters of federalism.

However, the counsel for the Centre pointed out that since being a policy issue, he needs some more time and the Court agreed to that and posted the case for another day.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had recently said steps are being taken to procure vaccines from the open market.

According to the statistics of vaccination taken in Kerala, so far over 20 lakhs have had both doses, while over 63 lakh people have had one dose.

On Monday, in a related issue, the Centre said it has so far provided, both through the free of cost category and through direct state procurement category, more than 21.80 crore vaccine doses (21,80,51,890) to States/UTs.