Nobody can be forced to get Covid-19 vaccination: Supreme Court

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said bodily autonomy and integrity are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. The top court said the current Covid-19 vaccine policy cannot be said to be manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable

The Supreme Court said that no person can be forced to get vaccinated against Covid-19 and asked the Centre to make public the effect of such an immunisation.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and BR Gavai said bodily autonomy and integrity are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution. The top court said the current Covid-19 vaccine policy cannot be said to be manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable.

"Till numbers are low, we suggest that relevant orders are followed and no restriction is imposed on unvaccinated individuals on access to public areas or recall the same if already not done," the bench said. Regarding segregation of vaccine trial data, subject to privacy of individuals, all trials conducted and to be subsequently conducted, all data must be made available to the public without further delay, it said.

The apex court also directed the Union of India to publish reports on adverse events of vaccines from the public and doctors on a publicly accessible system without compromising data of individuals. The court delivered the judgement on a plea filed by Jacob Puliyel seeking directions for disclosure of data on clinical trials of Covid-19 vaccines and post-jab cases.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever.

"Exciting news! Mid-day is now on WhatsApp Channels Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!