Delhi HC Asks Vaccine Production Capacity Info From Serum Institute And Bharat Biotech, Calls For Urgency

A bench of Justices Vipin Sanghi and Rekha Palli of the Delhi High Court on Thursday (04 March) directed Pune based Serum Institute of India and Hyderabad based Bharat Biotech to disclose their capacities to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines, reports LiveMint.

While hearing a PIL to examine the demand of Bar Council of Delhi to declare all people associated with the judicial functioning as “frontline workers" so that they could receive COVID-19 vaccination on priority, the High Court said the two institutes, Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech, have more capacity to provide the vaccines but it seems that they are not exploiting it fully.

"We are not utilising it fully. We are either donating it to foreign countries or selling it to foreign countries and are not vaccinating our own people. So there has to be that sense of responsibility and urgency," the bench said.

The High Court also asked the Delhi government to carry out inspection of facilities available in court complexes and to report if COVID-19 vaccination centres could be set up there.