Kerala HC expresses concern over vaccine pricing and supply

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday expressed concerns over the centre's vaccine policy and observed that state government should be given priority in vaccine supply by vaccine producers.

Considering public interest litigations against the centre's vaccine pricing policy, the court observed that there should be yardsticks for supply of vaccines to non-government institutions like private hospitals. The court asked how private hospitals were able to procure vaccines while state government's requests were pending.

The state government stated before the court that the centre's vaccine pricing and supply policy was leading to black marketing of the vaccines.

Though Kerala government ordered one crore doses for vaccinating those in the 18-45 age category, the state only received 8.8 lakh doses. This had affected the vaccination in Kerala.