Pointing out that the future allocation of vaccines for Tamil Nadu appears to be somewhat disappointing, the first bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy on perusing the Centre’s report in this regard said, “Though the Centre maintains that the allocation is based on the population of a State, the positivity rate prevailing and other factors must be considered and the allocation to Tamil Nadu, as indicated in the Centre’s affidavit, may require to be revisited.”

However, pointing out that its direction must be taken as a suggestion and not a criticism, the Chief Justice pointed out that there is hope that vaccines would be available in greater numbers upon the various manufacturing units augmenting their production facilities.

“On the vaccine front, the Centre’s affidavit indicates augmentation of production by various manufacturing units, including Serum Institute, Bharat Biotech and even Cadila. Additional Solicitor General informed the Court that as per the plan put in place by the Centre, 216 crore doses of vaccine should be available by the end of the year for every Indian to be fully vaccinated, ” the bench recorded.

The court also sought the State and Centre to undertake awareness campaigns and measures to educate the citizens, particularly in the rural areas, to step forward and take the vaccine.“Superstitions and archaic beliefs practised in some communities stand in the way of scientific measures being implemented and there continues to be a resistance to accepting vaccination in certain sections of the society. Both the Centre and the State should take appropriate measures to allay the misgivings that may be harboured in such regard,” Chief Justice Banerjee stressed.