The Kerala Medical Services Corporation Limited (KMSCL) informed the Kerala High Court about the cancellation of Covid vaccines. The procurement agency cancelled one crore Covid vaccine doses ordered by the state. Two manufacturing companies in India received the order of the same.
The manufacturing units showed their inability to supply the vaccines to the state.
The counsel submitted the report, stating that the manufacturers had informed the Corporation beforehand. It mentioned that they could only supply the doses of vaccines earmarked by the Centre for state governments out of the 50 per cent non-governmental quota. The Central government allocated a certain number of vaccines under this quota to supply to state governments. Therefore, the Covishield manufacturer told the Corporation it could not deliver the ordered doses of vaccine by the Corporation.
Henceforth, all the orders were cancelled. However, the Corporation placed the orders to supply 70 lakh doses of Covisheild and 30 lakh Covin vaccine doses. And non-receipt of the same made the state stop the vaccination camps temporarily. The Central government submitted that there had been a major shift in the Centre vaccine policy. In the future, Vaccination will be provided to 18-44 age group citizens free of cost. In addition, private hospitals and entities could buy vaccines under 25 per cent earmarked for the private sector.
The court has directed the Corporation to file a statement on difficulties and challenges they have faced in procuring the vaccines. The court also asked the Centre to file a statement regarding the Centre’s new policy. This would be regarding the procurement and administration of vaccines.
The vaccination drive will be stopped in Kerala state until further notice as there is zero dosage of vaccination stock available with the state. This situation raises serious concern about the vaccination and pandemic situation of the state. That’s when the state is witnessing an increasing trend of the covid cases.
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