SC seeks Centre's reply on appeal of DCPCR for priority Covid-19 vaccination of pregnant women

By: WE Staff | Monday, 20 September 2021

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear an appeal seeking direction to the Centre to declare pregnant and lactating women as high-risk category and be given priority for Covid-19 vaccination.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and DY Chandrachud issued notice to the Centre on the appeal of the Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) and sought its response within two weeks.

Advocate Vrinda Grover, appearing for DCPCR, said the Centre has issued some guidelines for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers but now it is being stated that there may be some adverse effects on them due to vaccination.

She said there is a need to declare women in these conditions as high-risk categories and since people are dealing with a virus which they do not know much about, there is a need to conduct continuous research on the effects of vaccination on them.

There is also a need to create a platform for registry of pregnant and lactating mothers for proper monitoring, she said.

The Supreme Court noted that the petition was set in motion by DCPCR under Article 32 and filed in May this year and subsequently operational guidelines were issued for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers.

The bench said it is issuing notice to the Union of India and seeking its response in two weeks.

The Supreme Court also took the help of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to inform the court about the policy which has been drawn up for the vaccination of lactating mothers and pregnant women and what further steps could be taken.

On July 2, the Union ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) announced that pregnant women will be eligible for the ongoing nationwide inoculation drive, which started on January 16.