Prioritise Covid-19 vaccination for those with prior appointments on CoWIN: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court in an interim order on Thursday said the Maharashtra government must prioritise inoculating people who had prior appointments for vaccination against Covid19 through the CoWIN portalA bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said the state must first administer the available vaccines to those with prior confirmed appointments and administer only the surplus doses to people who took on the spot or walkin slots for vaccinationsThis system would streamline the vaccination drive in the state given that there is a shortage of vaccine stocks currently the HC saidAlso Read Pfizer Moderna jabs effective against variants found in India StudyIt directed the state to ensure that those with prior appointments were not made to wait in queue for long hours at the vaccination centresThe court also said the state must take special steps to vaccinate on priority the health care or frontline workers who were yet to be vaccinatedThe HC was hearing two Public Interest Litigations PILs seeking the courts intervention over the issues faced by citizens in booking vaccination slots on the CoWIN portalThe petitioners counsels Jamsheed Master and Anita Castellino told the bench that the CoWIN portal opens at specific time each day and all vaccine slots get filled within secondsSometimes even after the vaccine appointment is given and the person goes to the centre heshe is turned back saying there are no vaccines available as the stock was exhausted because the doses were administered to people who came in walkin slots Master saidHe told the bench that his own father a senior citizen had got an appointment for vaccine at the Nair Hospital at the preferred slot of 9 am to 11 am but was finally administered the jab at 445 pmMaster said there were several senior citizens waiting in the queue under the sun without a break for food water or going to the toiletThere was overcrowding at vaccination centres and even wheelchaired persons had to wait for long hours he saidThe HC said such conditions were inhuman It also asked if the system of preferred slot was just a shamThis is unfair to citizens What if a person waiting in the queue is diabetic and needs to have food You just cannot make them wait like this for hours the HC saidldquoThere is a nice system for booking online vaccines slots but why is this parallel system of walkins being runrdquo the court askedThe Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporations BMC counsel Geeta Sashtri told the bench that the civic body had a limited stock of vaccines and hence the available slots on the CoWIN portal get booked quicklyShe said the civic body had already issued expression of interests EoIs for importing vaccines Sashtri also said the state was scheduled to receive a stock of two lakh vaccines from the Serum Institute of India on Thursday eveningHowever there was no system in place currently for regular supply of vaccines from the Union government the counsel saidThe HC said the state could look at the vaccination model followed by western countriesLook at America It was one of the worstaffected countries but it has vaccinated a majority of its population How many PILs were filed in America the HC saidIf no PILs were filed then it means either the system is working or citizens are not conscious the court notedIt cant be that American citizens are not conscious Why cant you have such smooth system of vaccination in the state the HC askedAll citizens also had a duty to follow Covid19 safety protocols it saidOne cannot not merely lay a claim to ones right to getting the antiCovid19 vaccine and not follow any safety rules laid down by the government the court saidWhat happened in February 2021 when everybody gathered throwing caution to the wind the HC saidEveryone decided to go for weddings stopped wearing maskswe had stated in our earlier order that citizens should not only think of rights but also of duty it saidThe HC said while there were problems with the states current arrangements on issuing vaccination slots and managing queues most of the problems would be solved once the state had adequate stock of vaccinesIn the meanwhile we have to remain patient First you citizens create turmoil then when the situation worsens you panic and then scream vaccine vaccine vaccine the court said The HC will continue the hearing on June 2This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever