May 02,2022: The Supreme Court, while stating that the Centre’s current vaccination policy is not arbitrary, ruled that no individual can be forced to get vaccinated.
Disposing of a petition seeking disclosure of the vaccine trial’s data and putting a stay on the “vaccine mandates” issued by authorities in various parts of the country, a Bench led by Justice L Nageswara Rao said: “On the basis of substantial material filed before this court reflecting the near unanimous views of experts on the benefits of vaccination…this court is satisfied that the current vaccination policy of the union of India is informed of the relevant considerations and cannot be said to be unreasonable or manifestly arbitrary.”
On vaccine mandates, it stated that “no data” was “placed by Union of India or states controverting data by petitioner in the form of emerging scientific opinion which appears to indicate that the risk of transmission of virus from unvaccinated individuals is almost on par with the vaccinated persons”, while adding that “in light of this, restrictions on unvaccinated individuals imposed through various vaccine mandates by the states governments/union territories cannot be said to be proportionate.”
It also asked authorities across the country which had imposed such mandates to recall them. The court was hearing a plea by Jacob Puliyel, a paediatrician who has been advising the Centre on vaccines as a member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation.
