Covid vaccination can't be forced, made mandatory: SC

NEW DELHI: Holding bodily integrity to be a part of one's fundamental right to life and liberty, the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a person can not be forced to be vaccinated for Covid-19 virus against his wishes and vaccination cannot be made mandatory but said that the government can impose certain reasonable limitations on individual rights.
Passing the verdict against forceful vaccination, a bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai also directed that government and private agencies cannot discriminate against unvaccinated people by restricting their movements and preventing them access to public places, including barring them from visiting offices and malls as done by some of the state governments. The court, however, made it clear that it was passing order on the basis of the present situation alone and it should not be construed as interfering with the power of the governemnt to take steps for prevention of infection and transmission of the virus.
"Persons who are keen to not be vaccinated on account of personal beliefs or preferences, can avoid vaccination, without anyone physically compelling them to be vaccinated. However, if there is a likelihood of such individuals spreading the infection to other people or contributing to mutation of the virus or burdening of the public health infrastructure, thereby affecting communitarian health at large, protection of which is undoubtedly a legitimate State aim of paramount significance in this collective battle against the pandemic, the Government can regulate such public health concerns by imposing certain limitations on individual rights that are reasonable and proportionate to the object sought to be fulfilled," Justice Rao, who penned the verdict, said.
The court in its 115-page verdict said that the Centre and states did not place any scientific evidence or data before it to indicate that the risk of transmission of the virus from unvaccinated individuals is more than from vaccinated persons to justify the discriminatory treatment of unvaccinated individuals in public places by imposition of vaccine mandates.
"We are of the opinion that the restrictions on unvaccinated individuals imposed through vaccine mandates cannot be considered to be proportionate, especially since both vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals presently appear to be susceptible to transmission of the virus at similar levels," the bench said..
The bench said the vaccination drive being undertaken by the Centre is in the interest of public health and cannot be faulted with. It also turned down a plea to restrain the Centre not to vaccinate paediatric population and said the decision taken by the government "is in tune with global scientific consensus and expert bodies like the WHO, the UNICEF and the CDC have also advised paediatric vaccination".
"It would not only be beyond our jurisdiction but also hazardous if this Court were to examine the accuracy of such expert opinion, based on competing medical opinions. As already stated, the scope of judicial review does not entail the Court embarking upon such misadventures. Therefore, we reject the contention of the Petitioner that this Court has to intervene in paediatric vaccination on the ground that it is unscientific," it said.
"On the basis of substantial material filed before this Court reflecting the near-unanimous views of experts on the benefits of vaccination in addressing severe disease from the infection, reduction in oxygen requirement, hospital and ICU admissions, mortality and stopping new variants from emerging, this Court is satisfied that the current vaccination policy of the Union of India is informed by relevant considerations and cannot be said to be unreasonable or manifestly arbitrary. Contrasting scientific opinion coming forth from certain quarters to the effect that natural immunity offers better protection against Covid-19 is not pertinent for determination of the issue before us," it said.
The court said that information relating to adverse effects following immunisation is crucial to further scientific studies and directed the Centre to facilitate reporting of suspected adverse events by individuals and private doctors on an accessible virtual platform without compromising on protecting the confidentiality of the persons reporting.