Maharashtra got 5L extra Covid-19 vaccine doses in August: Centre

An affidavit states that instead of the 86.74 lakh doses which were allocated, the state received 91.81 lakh doses from the manufacturers

The Central government, in an affidavit in response to the public interest litigation (PILs) which sought better administration of the CoWin portal and app and streamlining of allocation and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to the state, has informed the Bombay High Court that Maharashtra was given five lakh additional doses for August. The affidavit states that instead of the 86.74 lakh doses which were allocated, the state received 91.81 lakh doses from the manufacturers.

The Central government was responding to the public interest litigation which sought better administration of the CoWin portal and app and streamlining of allocation and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to the state in the Bombay High Court. (HT FILE)

The affidavit also stated that work on addressing the issue of permitting jab beneficiaries to make corrections on their vaccine certificates on CoWIN portal was under development and would be available soon, especially the fake vaccination drive victims in Mumbai city.

The affidavit filed by Satyendra Singh, under-secretary, department of health and family welfare, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, has stated that the Centre had been procuring 75% of the vaccines being manufactured and allocating it to states and union territories for free. The affidavit adds that a month-long date wise allocation schedule has already been provided to the states and supplies of the vaccine are being provided based on it.

In the previous hearing of the PILs, the division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Girish Kulkarni had been informed by advocate Jamsheed Master for petitioner Yogeeta Rajesh Vanzara and advocate Anita Castellino for petitioner Siddharth Chandrashekhar that many vaccination centres had been unable to provide slots due to shortage of supply.

The bench was also informed that the facility to make corrections in Covid vaccine certificates on the CoWin portal was not fully functional. The court had directed the centre to respond to the same and had sought an affidavit enumerating the number of doses being provided to the state of Maharashtra and the status of the correction facility.

While responding to the issue of making corrections on the CoWin portal, the affidavit states that while correction of dates of both doses has been resolved and users can rectify the same and download the certificate with correct dates after the technical glitches in the software have been resolved. The affidavit adds that work on allowing further corrections is underway and would be made available soon to all users including those who were victims of fake vaccination drives.

The PILs were listed for hearing on Monday but due to paucity of time will be taken up on Tuesday.