HC asks Centre to respond to Karnataka’s request for 3.5m vaccine doses per week

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday gave a slew of directions to the state police including maintaining a tight vigil in the districts bordering neighbouring states where the Covid-19 cases are rising

The Karnataka high court on Tuesday directed the Centre to consider Karnataka’s request for 3.5 million doses of Covid vaccines per week in order to vaccinate all residents above 18 years of age within three months.

The Karnataka high court has asked Centre to consider Karnataka request for increasing the supply of Covid vaccine to meet its vaccination target. (Photo Courtesy- Karnataka high court website)

The state told the court that the demand was based on its capability to vaccinate 500,000 eligible population daily. It stated that as of August 5, it had received a total of 27 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine including 24 million Covishield and 3.49 million Covaxin doses. It is also said that the state had administered 32 million doses as of August 5 to 49.7 million eligible recipients.

A division bench of chief justice Abhay Oka and justice Aravind Kumar said, “If some state government is able to achieve the tall target, the Government of India shall welcome that and assist it.”

The court suggested that, “There is no clarity on the efficacy of Covaxin and Covishiled, if the vaccines are effective for a limited period, necessary provisions shall be made for providing further doses in the action plan.” The court also directed the Centre to respond on this point.

Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday gave a slew of directions to the state police including maintaining a tight vigil in the districts bordering neighbouring states where the Covid-19 cases are rising, having zero tolerance towards crime and crack down on drug cases while hailing the police force for “exemplary” work during a review meeting at the Vidhana Soudha.

“Action has to be taken to prevent the possible Covid third wave. Precautions have to be taken at the border districts. Senior officers will have to work more responsibly. Inspection at the check posts in borders will be mandatory,” a statement issued by the chief minister’s office said.

Revenue minister R Ashok, in charge of pandemic management in Bengaluru, said on Monday that tough measures will be imposed in the city to contain the virus after August 15. When quizzed whether this would mean weekend curfews and closure of economic activity, he said nothing can be ruled out and decisions will be taken based on the evolving situation. “The vaccination rate in the city is good, which we hope will reduce the number of hospitalisations and deaths in the city, even if the cases shoot up,” he said.

Meanwhile, after clamping restrictions on people arriving from Kerala, the Chamarajanagar district administration made it mandatory for travellers from Tamil Nadu to furnish negative Covid-19 reports not older than 72 hours at the time of arrival from Sunday onwards.

The decision comes in the wake of fresh reports of rise in Covid cases in the neighbouring state. The district administration has intensified screening of people at Punajanur checkpost, Naal Road near Ardhanipura and the checkpost at Palar in Hanur taluk on the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.