Validity of policy permitting private sector to procure 25% COVID vaccines from manufacturers: Madhya Pradesh High Court seeks Govt response

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has sought the Central and State government's response on a challenge to the validity of allowing the private sector to procure 25% of COVID-19 vaccines..Clause 8 of the National Vaccination Policy permits such private sector procurement without the involvement of the Centre and the State. .A challenge to this clause was made in a pending petition moved by advocate Sunil Kumar Gupta who had initially sought directions for the issuance of a global tender by the Madhya Pradesh government for vaccine procurement. .Madhya Pradesh government to float global tender for 1 crore COVID-19 vaccines, Madhya Pradesh High Court told .In an interim application, Gupta also challenged clause 8 of the vaccine policy and urged the Court to stay its operation until the State and the Centre finish procuring 75% of the vaccines as allocated for them..It was argued before the Bench of Chief Justice Mohammad Rafiq and Justice Atul Sridharan that Clause 8 of the vaccine policy was violative of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India..It was pointed out that the State of Madhya Pradesh, through its Advocate General, had not been able to give any timeline to the Court about the precise period within which the whole population would get vaccinated with both the doses of the vaccine..While so, the it was argued that the private sector is getting a lion’s share of vaccines from the manufacturers, which is bound disturb the whole supply chain and procurement by the State and the Centre..Advocate Siddharth R Gupta, appearing for the petitioner, also submitted that the procurement of the vaccines should be conducted only through the Central or the State channels. Otherwise there may be black marketing and hoarding, he contended..He went on to add that like Remdesevir, Mphotericin and other important drugs, even the vaccine must be seen as an ‘essential commodity’, with the complete exclusion of the private sector procurement. .The State of Madhya Pradesh was represented by Advocate General Purushendra Kaurav and the Centre was represented by Standing Counsel Vikram Singh assisted by Drug Controller General of India VG Somani.