Mahima
The Delhi High Court expressed discontentment over ‘huge wastage’ of vaccines and asked the Centre to vaccinate whomsoever it can for eliminating vaccine wastage.
The bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli noted that as per the reports there is a daily wastage of 6% vaccines.
It further noted, that out of 10 crore vaccines, 44 lakhs have been wasted with maximum wastage in Tamil Nadu.
The Court remarked, “This is a huge wastage. Give it to those who want it. Whomsoever you can vaccinate, please vaccinate. Whether 16 year old or 60 year old, all need vaccination. The pandemic does not discriminate.”
The court noted that a lot of young people have been affected and lost their lives during the second wave.
If at the end of the day there are shots available, then give it to someone whether they fall in the approved categories for vaccination or not to stop wastage.
The High Court further also questioned Centre’s decision to ban industrial use of oxygen some time later and remarked, “If nothing (is) done to augment oxygen supply, (the) country will head for bigger a disaster; first priority has to be to save lives”.
The Ministry of Health informed the High Court that there has been an inordinate increase of 133% in the projected medical oxygen required between the initial estimate of 300 metric tonnes and revised estimate of 700 metric tonnes submitted by Delhi.
The Centre further informed that it has provided Delhi government hospitals with 1,390 ventilators.
The Ministry of Healths’ affidavit states, “These plants would enhance capacity of medical oxygen by 14.4 metric tonnes”.