Kerala received 60% more vaccine doses than proposed, says Centre

The Central Government informed the Kerala High Court on Wednesday that the Centre has provided the state with 60 per cent more vaccine doses than the proposed allocation.

The statement was filed after the High Court sought a reply from the Union Government in a plea, filed by petitioners KP Aravindan and Dr Praveen G Pai, challenging the Liberalized Pricing and Accelerated National Covid-19 Vaccination Strategy.

The Centre said, "It supplied adequate doses of COVID vaccines to Kerala under the National COVID-19 Vaccination programme. Vaccines were supplied to States and Union Territories on a proportional basis of the eligible population, the progress of vaccination, and vaccine wastage."

Assistant Solicitor General P Vijayakumar, appearing for the Union Government, said in the submission, "As per the vaccine allocation for July 2021, the State was entitled to the allocation of 39,02,580 vaccines doses. However, it was supplied with 61,36,720 doses last month according to the report. This is 60% more than the proposed allocation for the State."

The Assistant Solicitor General said, "The Centre has provided enhanced supplies to the state in terms of vaccine distribution, citing that Kerala has vaccinated 55 per cent of its eligible population with the 1st dose compared with the national average of 42 per cent. The State has vaccinated 22 per cent of its population against 12 pc of the national average. So, Kerala has been supplied adequate doses of the vaccines under the National COVID-19 Vaccination Programme. The State would continue to be supplied adequate doses as per the availability of vaccines."

Petitioner Aravindan is a member of the COVID-19 expert panel constituted by the State and Pai is a public health specialist.