Supreme Court: “Vaccines No Longer Compulsory”
The Supreme Court of India has recently given a landmark decision saying “No Individual Can be forced to get vaccinated” - Watch full story
Now that we have entered the third year since the Covid-19 pandemic has started, vaccines and people getting vaccinated against the virus have become very common. Also India has now fully vaccinated more than 68% of its population and vaccines are now easily available for almost every age group starting from 5 years old.
Jacob Puliyel, a former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunization (NTAGI) has filed a PIL against the vaccination being compulsory for citizens. He in his argument said that states mandating vaccination for accessing benefits or services is a violation of citizens' rights, and is against the Indian constitution. Many states had made vaccines necessary for state government employees, to travel in public transport and to access subsidised food grains, which is again a violation of basic human rights. The petition also asked for clinical trial data of Covid vaccines to be made public and claimed that vaccines being given had not been tested well for safety and were licensed only for emergency use without trial data being disclosed to the public. The Central government in its argument said that the filed petition is "against national interest" and would create vaccine hesitancy and fear in people. It had also said vaccination is voluntary and not compulsory but its the state governments which has enforced mandates related to vaccination.
However the Supreme court supported the man’s petition and said that no one can be forced to take the vaccine, also the court directed the central government to publish reports on the adverse effects of vaccination in humans. They also said that all the restrictions imposed on un-vaccinated citizens should be removed immediately by states, making vaccination non-compulsory.
Getting vaccinated is a matter of choice.
