The Maharashtra government on Wednesday informed the Bombay High Court that it would soon start door-to-door vaccination against Covid-19 on an experimental basis for people who are immobile or bedridden, and would not wait for approval from the Centre.
Advocate General Ashutosh Kumbhakoni told the court that door-to-door vaccination on a trial and experimental basis would be introduced in Pune district first.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni was hearing a public interest litigation filed by two advocates – Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari- seeking a direction to the Centre and the state government to introduce door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens above the age of 75, specially-abled people and those who are bed-ridden.
The reason for choosing Pune, Kumbhakoni added, was that the district had recently conducted a drive for students who were going abroad. The students who were seeking vaccination were asked to respond on an email address and once the list was prepared, the drive started.
He said that taking a cue from this successful drive, the civic authorities of the Pune district were going to draft an email to be issued to everyone so that they can start receiving responses.
Kumbhakoni added that once the Pune model is successful, the state will extend it to other districts as well. He also said that the state government will deal with this issue with extreme urgency.
Kumbhakoni also wanted to apprise the court about certain concerns raised by the administration on the issue. He, however, requested for an audience in the Chief Justice’s chambers as he did not want those discussions to be reported in the media.
The court also asked Kumbhakoni to re-consider the condition seeking a certificate from a treating doctor that the concerned beneficiary is not likely to have adverse events following immunization (AEFI) as it is likely to discourage citizens from getting themselves vaccinated.
“We hope and pray that you do not press for the doctor to give his undertaking. In a critical operation, the hospital takes the patient or his relative’s undertaking. Not the doctor’s undertaking. Don’t give this impractical condition that no one approaches for vaccination.” said Chief Justice Datta.
Datta also remarked that possibly the Maharashtra government was being too cautious with respect to the AEFI issue.
Chief Justice Datta also asked the Maharashtra government to consider the successful vaccination drive conducted by the state of Tripura where nurses and doctors travelled to people’s homes to administer the vaccine.
The next hearing is scheduled for Thursday in the judges’ chamber.
“We will hear the matter tomorrow in chambers in the presence of the chairman of the State Covid-19 Task Force,” the bench said.
The HC also said the state government can go ahead with its home vaccination drive on an experimental basis and need not wait for orders from the court.