Still waiting for more than 10 lakh doses of Covid-19 vaccines: Karnataka tells HC

Additional Advocate General Dhyan Chinnappa submitted details of vaccine doses of Covishield and Covaxin which are supposed to be delivered to the state government while pointing out that the exact same amount will be utilized for those beneficiaries who are supposed to receive their second doses in the month of July-August.

The state pointed out that almost 8,46,360 government quota doses of Covishield for the month of July have not been delivered by the center yet. As far as the August quota of Covishield is concerned, the central government has approved a total of 42,60,350 doses of Covishield for the month of August for the state.

In the case of Covaxin, a total of 3,22,700 doses have been allocated under the government quota for the month of July but the state to receive the doses and a total of 6,12,380 doses are allocated for the month of August. Chinnappa also stated that the central government has delivered 18,52,880 additional doses of Covishiled and Covaxin to the state for the month of July.

Advocate G R Mohan, counsel for one of the petitioners, mentioned in the court that the colleges have already reopened from July 26 in the state. Hence, the court must provide direction to the state to take initiative for arranging a special drive that can ensure vaccination for all students above 18 years of age considering that they will have to attend offline colleges now. On this, the court has sought the state government's response on if any such special drive is being planned by the state to ensure the safety of college students.

A division bench of Chief Justice Abhay Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar in their order stated,

"State will have to place before the court whether any timeline has been fixed for ensuring that the entire population of the state gets vaccinated. The State government shall respond on this aspect on the next date of hearing."

Meanwhile, Advocate Shridhar Prabhu informed the court that some patients who were admitted to private hospital under the government quota have been charged by the hospital and there should be a grievance redressal mechanism setup to address their problems.

Accordingly, the court directed, "It will be appropriate if the state government sets up a grievance redressal mechanism for the claims of the reimbursement of the amounts charged by the hospitals. State to set up such a mechanism at the earliest."