MP HC asks Centre to supply enough vaccines by September-end

While hearing a suo moto case on Madhya Pradesh government's Covid prepardness, the High Court has urged the Centre to supply enough vaccines by September-end.

Jabalpur: The Madhya Pradesh High Court has asked the Centre to supply enough COVID-19 vaccines to the state to ensure that the entire adult population in the region gets at least one dose by September-end.

The division bench of Chief Justice Mohammed Rafiq and Justice Satyendra Kumar Singh made the observation on Monday while hearing a suo moto case about the state government's preparedness in tackling the COVID-19 pandemic, senior advocate Naman Nagrath told media on Thursday.

“The court in this connection urges the Central government to ensure supply of vaccines in sufficient quantity to Madhya Pradesh, keeping in view the required demand of 1.5 crore vaccines per month regularly, so that the target of vaccination of first dose to all people in the 18 plus population in the state is achieved by the end of September,” the bench said.

The second dose can also be administered as per the priorities fixed with reference to people already vaccinated with the first dose, it stated. The court's observation came after the National Health Mission's Madhya Pradesh managing director Chhavi Bhardwaj submitted that the Centre had supplied approximately 37 lakh vaccine doses in May, 54 lakh doses in June and by July 19, the state had received approximately 60 lakh doses, which is likely to increase to 70 lakh by the end of the month.

Bhardwaj further stated that they are expecting the supply to increase to one crore by the end of August, as both vaccine makers – Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech Pvt Ltd – were progressively increasing their manufacturing capacity. The state will require 40 lakh vaccine doses per week on an average and 1.50 crore doses per month to achieve the target of 100 per cent vaccination of the entire adult population of the state by the end of September, she said. Senior counsel Nagrath said the case has been listed for the next hearing on August 10.

PTI