New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday said that it will decide on a date to hear the petition regarding disclosure of Covid 19 vaccine data and vaccine mandates issued by different states and other issues arising from these matters can be dealt with by the High Courts. The parties can submit their affidavits and the counter-affidavits in the matter.
The bench comprising Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice BR Gavai was hearing a plea filed by Jacob Puliyel, a former member of the National Technical Advisory Group of Immunisation who had moved the court seeking directions to the Centre to release the data on vaccine trials and challenged the states' decision of vaccine mandate.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan appearing for the petitioner submitted today that vaccine mandate is an urgent issue presently as people are losing their jobs and are not able to move freely due to vaccine mandates.
"Whether I take some medicine or vaccine for my own sake is my fundamental right," argued Bhushan. He said that he is not against the vaccine mandate but it can only be issued if a person presents a greater hazard to others than himself/herself by not taking the vaccine. He said that 90% of people in this country have had the virus because they are seropositive, ICMR shows that 90% of people have had the infection which is less likely to infect people with Covid 19 now.
