Plea Challenging Liberalised Vaccination Policy: Kerala High Court Seeks Centre's Response

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday directed the Central government to file its submissions in a plea that challenged its Liberalized Pricing and Accelerated National Covid 19 Vaccination Strategy.  

The Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly also remarked that 'prevention is key in such a situation, and vaccination is the only means of prevention,' while adjourning the matter till August 11th. 

The Court also expressed its concern over the Covid-19 cases being on the rise throughout the State and enquired if any preventive action was being taken by the government to contain the same. 

The PIL filed through a group of lawyers of the Software Law Centre challenged the Centre's Liberalized Vaccine Policy for its pricing and manufacturing system.

Advocate S Prasanth appearing on behalf of the petitioners also submitted that according to the reports and surveys, only 40% of the State's population was immune to the virus due to the presence of antibodies, and urged that it was indispensable at such a stage to vaccinate the vulnerable population. 

Petitioner Dr. K. P Aravindan is a member of the expert panel on COVID-19 constituted by the State and Dr. Praveen G Pai is a Public Health Specialist. The primary contention of the petitioners was that the policy allowed a multi-track procurement process and a differential vaccine pricing mechanism.

The Court in one of the previous hearings in the matter had directed the concerned authorities to notify the public regarding the total number of vaccines procured and the total vaccinated population in the State.

Background:

The said policy opened vaccinations for citizens falling in the age bracket of 18-45 years from 1st May 2021. It has purportedly removed the price cap of Rs. 250 and has also made states compete with each other and the private sector.

Accordingly, the manufacturers of CoviShield (Serum Institute of India) announced that it will supply Vaccines for Rs. 400 per vaccine to States and Rs. 600 to private hospitals. Similarly, Covaxin manufacturers (Bharat Biotech) declared to sell the vaccine at Rs. 600 for States, Rs. 1200 for Private Hospitals. However, the rate for the Centre remained Rs. 150.

Prior to the policy, all vaccines were procured by the Central Government for Rs 150 per vaccine. The policy hence created a three-tier price structure with differential pricing for Centre and State. This was challenged for the reason that it could lead to low coverage of the targeted population, thereby infringing upon the right to health and right to life of the citizenry.

The policy was also assailed on the fact that charging for vaccines for the 18-45 age group was an unreasonable classification and is therefore arbitrary. Additionally, the petitioners pointed out that vaccination was costliest in India among other countries in the world. 

The petitioner urged the respondents to take steps to ensure that more manufacturers be given access to the technology and that vaccines reach the target population as quickly as possible. 

Case Title: Prabhakaran T.P v. Union of India