"No one can be forced to get vaccinated": Supreme Court

Mangalore Today News Network / NDTV

New Delhi, May 02, 2022: No one can be forced to take the vaccine, the Supreme Court said today, adding that the current policy "cannot be said to be manifestly arbitrary".

 

"Bodily integrity is protected under the law and nobody can be forced to be vaccinated," the Supreme Court said. Certain limitations on individual rights could only be imposed in the interest of community health, the court asserted.

Restrictions imposed on individuals through vaccine mandates cannot be called to be proportionate, the court said, in a refence to some states making it essential for people to get the Covid shot to access public places.

"Till infection numbers are low we suggest that no restriction is imposed on individuals on access to public places, services and resources. Recall the same if already done," the Supreme Court ordered.

The judges added that their directives did not extend to Covid-appropriate behaviour, but was limited to vaccines in the "rapidly evolving situation".

The Supreme Court also directed the Centre to publish reports on adverse events of vaccines from people and doctors on a publicly accessible system, without compromising data of the individuals reporting them.

"Regarding segregation of vaccine trial data, subject to the privacy of individuals, all trials already conducted and to be subsequently conducted, all data must be made available to the public without further delay," the court said.

"Regarding vaccine for children, it is not possible for us to second guess the opinion of experts and the vaccination indeed follows the global standards and practices. However, data of adverse reactions to be published at the earliest."

A Supreme Court bench of Judges LN Rao and BR Gavai was acting on a petition objecting to vaccines being made mandatory. The petition said making vaccination a condition for accessing benefits or services is a violation of citizens’ rights, and therefore, unconstitutional. It cited states mandating vaccination for state government employees, for travel in public transport and to access subsidised food grains.

The petition by Jacob Puliyel, a former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), also called for clinical trial data of Covid vaccines to be made public.

The petition also claimed that the vaccines being administered had not been adequately tested for safety or efficacy and were licensed under emergency use authorisation without data being disclosed to the public.

The Centre had argued in court that the petition was "against national interest" and would create vaccine hesitancy. It had also said vaccination is voluntary but states had enforced mandates "based on potential hazards".

Vaccine makers like Adar Poonwalla’s Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech had told the court that all trial data was already in the public domain.

States like Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh defended their vaccine mandates, calling them essential for the safety of every person, especially those using public transport.