Supreme Court Disposes Of PIL Questioning Quality Of Anti-Rabies Vaccines, Allows Petitioner To Approach Union Health Ministry

The Supreme Court on January 20 disposed of a writ petition seeking to constitute an independent expert committee to study the efficacy of the Intra Dermal Rabies Vaccines (IDRV) currently being administered to Humans and Rabies Veterinary Vaccine, administered to dogs in India. The Court however granted liberty to the petitioner to make a representation to the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, which shall examine and take up necessary steps as are deemed compelling to address the issue of rabies. 

The petition has been filed by the Kerala Pravasi Association in the backdrop of several persons who were bitten by dogs, succumbing to rabies, despite post-exposure prophylaxis. These deaths have posed several questions regarding the treatment protocol, and more importantly, the efficacy of the vaccines, the plea states.

The plea highlights that as per the National Centre for Disease Control, manufacturing of Rabies vaccine for humans, being a complex process, needs a minimum of three to four months for manufacturing and testing. There have been instances where the vaccine has reached the State within 14 days of manufacture, the writ petition claims.

“Non-adherence to the requisite quality checks would be a direct violation of Articles 14, 19, and 21 of the Constitution of India, apart from violations of provisions under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules thereunder,” the plea reads..

It has also been submitted that the rise in the number of rabies-infected dogs is also a matter of concern. Thus, this calls for an enquiry into the quality of anti-rabies vaccines administered to dogs. It is the petitioner's case that eliminating the risk of rabies at its source, i.e., dogs is the most effective measure to curtail the spread of rabies. Apart from setting up an expert committee, the petitioners also prayed for wide publicity and to ensure proper and uniform implementation of the National Guidelines for Rabies Prophylaxis, 2019, with appropriate revisions from time to time per the latest developments endorsed by WHO.

A bench of Justices PS Narasimha and Manoj Mishra after briefly hearing Advocate Kuriakose Varghese, for the petitioner, stated that the Court cannot do anything in this case. Justice Narasimha said: "Take it before the concerned authority. Dog bites are not uncommon."

Varghese had argued that India has the highest number of dog deaths but this is a 100% preventable disease. Inspite of that, the deaths are increasing every year. He stated that the vaccination available is expensive as one vaccine costs Rs. 7,500. Despite that, the national budget to deal with this issue has been scaled down by the State Government. He said: "These vaccines are far beyond the reach of a common man."

However, Additional Solicitor General KM Nataraj countered this claim and stated that the deaths were not due to rabies as per a report. 

On the last occasion, when the matter had come up before a bench of Justices Ravikumar and Sanjay Karol, it had orally observed that both State of Kerala and Union of India delayed filing their appearance and the counter in this matter despite the issue of rabies being a serious issue. 

Case Details: KERALA PRAVASI ASSOCIATION AND ANR. v. UNION OF INDIA AND ORS., W.P.(C) No. 882/2022 

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