Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): Taking a strong position in the manner in which the slow process of vaccination is taking place in the state, the Kerala High Court on Friday asked the Centre to explain when will the state get the required quantity of vaccines.
The case has now been posted for next Friday, when the Centre will have to explain.
The court informed the Centre's counsel that the situation in the state is very grave and if the vaccination drive continues at the current pace, it will take two years for all in the state to get vaccinated.
Also read: Vaccine shortage derails the vaccination drive in Karnataka
The petitioner also demanded that the other manufacturing companies should be given permission to produce Covaxin.
According to the statistics of vaccination taken in Kerala, so far 19,51,126 have had both doses, while 62,72,095 people have had one dose.
So far in the state over 16 lakh people have been cured of COVID-19, the present number of active cases stands at 4,38,913, after 39,955 turned positive on Thursday. The test positivity rate continues to hover in the range of over 27 per cent.
The Central government informed the High Court that the vaccine supply is not under its direct control and a high-level committee appointed by the Supreme Court is in charge of it. However, the state demanded additional doses urgently and sought the court's intervention to get maximum allocation from the Centre. The division bench comprising Justice Raj Vijayaraghavan and Justice M R Anitha will hear the plea again next Friday.
- With inputs from IANS
