Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on plea seeking COVID vaccination of pregnant, lactating women

The Supreme Court on Monday issued notice on a plea by Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) seeking inclusion of pregnant and lactating women in the category of persons eligible to take COVID-19 vaccine (Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights vs Union of India).In a plea filed through advocate Prateek Chadha, it was submitted that pregnant and lactating women were excluded from the category of eligible persons by an advisory issued in January 2021. This advisory has not been amended despite new evidence demonstrating the need to vaccinate them and to protect them from Covid-19, the plea said.The petitioners submitted that the exclusion of lactating and pregnant women from vaccination was in contravention of their fundamental rights under Articles 14, 15 and 21 of the Constitution.Advocate Vrinda Grover appearing for the petitioners, submitted that pregnant and lactating mothers were excluded since there was lack of research on the adverse impacts of the vaccine but if pregnant women are included, they can be continuously monitored by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). .The plea placed reliance on the Supreme Court judgement in Vincent Panikurlangara vs. Union of India in which it was held that in a welfare state, it is the State’s obligation to ensure creation and maintenance of conditions congenial to good health.Reliance was also placed on Consumer Education and Research Centre vs. Union of India that explicitly stated that right to health is an integral facet of a meaningful right to life under Article 21..Therefore, it was submitted that the right to health has been recognised as a part of the right to life under Article 21 and the State is obligated to protect the health of women and children, particularly pregnant women and lactating mothers.“Vaccination will advance this objective of promoting health as it will boost the immunity and provide resistance against this pandemic and therefore no class of persons should be excluded on arbitrary grounds,” the petition said..It was also stated that their exclusion constituted an unreasonable classification and was discriminatory in denying vaccination to a class of women.“Because the denial of vaccination to pregnant and lactating women amounts to a denial of access to maternal health, which in turn acts as a threat to the life, health and well being of the neonate child.”.A Bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and BV Nagarathna sought the assistance of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta for appraisal on the policy framed and applicable operational guidelines.The case will be heard again after two weeks..[Read Order]