Will publish weeklong jab slots, provided there is supply, Maharashtra govt assures HC

The state on Thursday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that it was willing to publish weekly plans for Covid-19 vaccination for all districts including Mumbai provided sufficient vaccines were made available to them by the central government

The state on Thursday informed the Bombay high court (HC) that it was willing to publish weekly plans for Covid-19 vaccination for all districts including Mumbai provided sufficient vaccines were made available to them by the central government. The state also submitted that while it had published weekly plans for some districts previously, the plan for those districts had also been reduced to daily plans as they were not receiving adequate jabs.

HT Image

The division bench of justice Sunil Deshmukh and justice Girish Kulkarni while hearing the public interest litigation filed by Yogeeta Vanzara through advocates Rajesh Vanzara and Jamsheed Master was informed that there was a need to have weekly plans for vaccination jabs as citizens were finding it difficult to book slots on the Co-WIN portal. The PIL also pointed to other issues problems faced by citizens especially the senior citizens and the poor who did not have access to smartphones and computers through which slots are to be booked on the Co-WIN portal.

Advocate Master in an earlier hearing on June 9 had informed the HC that while some districts in the state districts like Kolhapur, Yavatmal, Gadchiroli had published week-long vaccination slots in advance on the Co-WIN portal, booking for Mumbaikars was available only a day in advance. He had urged the court to direct the BMC to adopt a similar approach as people were facing problems with the current system. Master had suggested that apart from publishing week-long plans the portal should also have a fixed time which was known to everyone so that they can book slots without any hassle. The court had directed the state and BMC to consider the suggestions.

In response to the suggestions, the state filed an affidavit prepared by Sadhana M Tayde, director, commissioner of health services which stated, “The state government will publish a weekly plan for vaccination calendar in districts including Mumbai city as per the availability of vaccines which will be supplied to the state government by manufacturers as per the allocation of the vaccines by Union of India.”

The affidavit added that due to the reduced supply of vaccines, Kolhapur, Yavatmal and Gadchiroli districts were not in a position to publish a weekly plan for inoculation anymore. It was also clarified that with a limited supply of vaccines, distribution to districts was based on factors including the number of active patients, performance of Covid vaccination, active case positivity rate, beneficiaries pending for second dose and available vaccines stock.

The state also assured the HC of having fixed time for booking of vaccination slots and said, “The state government will accordingly issue instructions to that effect to all districts and municipal corporations to publish vaccination session slots at a predetermined time based on the availability of stocks of vaccine to avoid inconvenience to persons.” The affidavit while informing the HC of having a task force to oversee the facilitation of the vaccination programme in each district also said that it would direct district authorities to give priority to persons between 18 and 44 years of age with commodities after adequate stocks were made available.

In light of these submissions the state and even the centre requested the court to dispose of the PIL however on the insistence of the petitioner, the court posted a hearing of the PIL after two weeks.