PM Modi’s Monday announcement of taking back charge of the vaccination drive came days after the Supreme Court criticised the Centre’s handling of it.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the big change in the Centre’s Covid vaccination policy “in principle” on June 1 and the groundwork, too, began that day, government sources said on Monday. The claim emerged as opposition leaders said the PM’s announcement yesterday was course-correction following sharp comments from the Supreme Court on June 2 on the Centre’s vaccine decisions.

“The plan for centralised free vaccination was presented to the Prime Minister on June 1 on completion of one month of the decentralised model. The Prime Minister had given an in-principle approval in the meeting and the ground work for it began right on June 1 and it was announced today,” the sources said.

In a national address on Monday, PM Modi announced that his government would take back control of the drive from the states and provide vaccines free of charge to all above 18 from June 21.

He revised the rules of the drive’s third phase which came into force a month ago.

The change in the Centre’s Covid vaccination policy, announced on Monday by PM Modi, came a week after the government faced some tough questions from the Supreme Court. A three-member bench had on May 31 flagged “various flaws” in the inoculation drive, criticising aspects such as differential pricing, shortage of doses, and a lack of access in rural India.

On May 31, the Supreme Court bench of Justices DY Chandrachud, LN Rao, and S Ravindra Bhat had observed, “Your rationale was high mortality in the 45+ group (but), in the second wave, this group is not seriously affected…it is 18-44. If the purpose is to procure vaccines, why should the Centre procure only for those aged over 45?”

It was hearing a suo motu case on Covid-19 management in the country. The court asked why states were required to pay more for the vaccines under the Centre’s new “liberalised” policy which allowed states to buy up to 50 per cent of their needs directly from manufacturers, although at prices higher than what the Centre had to pay.

The court, in its detailed order, asked the Centre to revisit the new policy, calling it prima facie “arbitrary” and “irrational”. It sought a roadmap of the availability of vaccines till December 31, along with the details of the ₹ 35,000 crore set aside in the Union budget to buy doses. The bench wanted a comparison of vaccines’ prices in India and abroad. It also asked for documents and file notings related to the Centre’s new policy.

When the Centre asked the Supreme Court to keep off policy-making, it refused to be a “silent spectator” when executive policies infringed constitutional rights.

The next hearing of the Supreme Court on the matter is on June 30.