Plea before Jharkhand High Court to invoke price control measures and make COVID vaccines available at Rs. 150

A plea has been filed before the Jharkhand High Court seeking direction to make available the two vaccines for COVID-19, Covishield, Covaxin at Rs. 150 by bringing the two drugs under price control in exercise of powers under Section 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and National Disaster Management Act, 2005..The petition also sought similar directions with respect to medical devices like Oxygen Concentrator, Pulse Oximetre, Ventilator Machine etc..The petition filed by a practicing lawyer at Dhanbad, Mohammad Mumtaz Anzari said that the Central government has left it to the manufacturers of the two vaccines to the fix its prices.Consequently, the maximum retail price of such vaccines and devices have been kept very high by the manufacturers which is unreasonable, unjust and arbitrary..“Covid-19 vaccines and medical devices are Essential Commodities within the meaning of Section 3 of Essential Commodities Act, 1955 whose price should be controlled by Essential Commodities Act, 1955 and National Disaster Management Act, 2005,” the petition filed through advocate Md Shadab Ansari said..The plea pointed out that that the price of Covishield fixed by its manufacturers, Serum Institute of India for private hospitals is the highest in the world.The manufacturers have been fixing the price of said vaccine in unjustified, arbitrary and unreasonable manner, it was contended..Likewise, the price of life saving medical devices such as Oxygen Concentrator, Pulse Oximetre, Ventilator Machine etc have also not been brought under price control and the manufacturers have fixed the price of such devices in an arbitrary manner.The prices of the vaccines and medical devices should therefore be controlled in view of the health emergency that has gripped the nation, he submitted..Ansari’s is the third petition filed on the Central government’s vaccine policy.A similar petition was filed before Bombay High Court seeking directions to be issued to the Central and State governments to ensure that vaccine for COVID-19 is supplied at the uniform rate of Rs. 150 per dose for citizens across the country.The Kerala High Court is also seized of a challenge to vaccine policy. The petitions before Kerala High Court besides seeking universal immunisation for people of all ages, has also assailed the Centre’s decision to allow the vaccine manufacturers to price the vaccine differently for Central and State governments as being unconstitutional.