The Madras High Court on Thursday ordered that the Centre should not reduce the allocation of COVID-19 vaccines to Tamil Nadu just because the State government had decided to float global tenders to procure the vaccines, apart from the purchases being made from two domestic manufacturers. The court said the procurement through global tenders is a long-drawn process whereas the State is already facing a shortage of vaccines.
Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, however, made it clear that the Centre could appropriately rework the allocation of vaccines to Tamil Nadu as and when the global tenders mature and supplies are received.
The judges also noted that the supply of oxygen to the State had been increased from 419 to 519 tonnes a day under the National Oxygen Plan, but the supply of 40 tonnes from Kerala had been stopped.
“Overall, there does not appear to be any dearth of oxygen in the State at the moment,” the judges said and adjourned to Monday the further hearing of a suo motu public interest litigation petition taken up by the court to monitor the fight against COVID-19.
