Issuance of global tender for procuring COVID-19 vaccines: Madhya Pradesh High Court seeks response from State, Centre

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday sought the government's response as to what is the immunization plan in place to vaccinate the State's 5 crore citizens in the next two months, before a possible third wave of COVID-19 is expected. .A Division Bench of the High Court of Madhya Pradesh comprising Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Atul Sreedharan has also sought the response of the State and the Centre on a plea seeking directions for the government to issue global tenders to procure more COVID-19 vaccines from approved international vaccine manufacturers..State should issue global tenders for COVID-19 vaccines, fix price caps for such vaccines: PIL in Madhya Pradesh High Court.The High Court yesterday posed queries on the policy of the State to ensure that vaccination is done is a time-bound manner for its citizens. .It has also called upon the Central Government to justify why it is not invoking extraordinary provisions under the New Drugs and Clinical Trials Rules, 2019 for accelerating the approvals of various international vaccine-producing companies to produce the vaccine in India. The companies referred to, in this regard, include Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, etc. .The High Court further directed that a Senior Officer from the office of the Drug Controller, Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) be present on the next date of hearing, which is scheduled on Monday, May 24..The Court was hearing a PIL petition filed by advocate Sunil Gupta who had moved various prayers in relation to COVID-19 vaccination. Advocate Siddharth R Gupta appeared for the petitioner. .The petitioner had raised concern that in the span of 6 months, hardly 10 percent of the population of 8.40 crore of the State of Madhya Pradesh has been vaccinated. While so, he had pointed out that there is no master plan in place to vaccinate the remaining 90 percent of residents. .The plea highlighted that the State is dependent on the Central government for the procurement of vaccines..Further, it was noted that at least nine other States, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, etc. have floated global tenders inviting expressions of interest from internationally approved companies for ramping up vaccine availability. .Since health is a State subject under the Seventh Schedule of the Indian Constitution, the petitioner has argued that it is necessary that the State has its own independent policy. .Among other prayers, the petitioner has urged the Court to direct that a policy be evolved on the issue and that a Global Tender be issued inviting various manufacturers to supply COVID-19 vaccines in India..The State was represented through the Advocate General Purushendar Kaurav and the Central Government was represented through Senior Standing Counsel Vikram Singh, during yesterday's hearing. .[Read the Order]