Booster Vaccine Shots For All: Bombay High Court Seeks Response From Centre & State

A division bench led by Chief Justice Dipankar Datta directed the Union of India, Chief Secretary of Maharashtra, Principal Secretary of the Health Department and the BMC (civic body), to file their affidavits explaining what is the State and Centre's booster policy, and how do they plan to implement it.

During the hearing, Advocate Dhruti Kapadia said that she had filed the PIL before the Prime Minister announced that children between the ages of 15-18 can be vaccinated after January 3 and those above 60 years would be entitled for precautionary doses after January 10 on medical advise.

During Friday's hearing, Kapadia expressed concern regarding the ambiguity around booster vaccine shots. She mentioned that the maximum population was not eligible for these shots as of today. "Moreover, some say to take the shot after six months, some say take it after a year. We are entitled to know when and how it will be done."

Following her submissions, the court sought responses from the State and Centre.

The plea filed by Kapadia and lawyer Kunal Tiwari has sought framing and swift implementation of vaccine-booster policy and administering jabs "to every citizen on priority without any delay." The petition also sought disclosure of vaccine-booster mechanisms.

"It is a need of time to have the booster dose of vaccines started at the earliest, for which there is no policy in place by Centre, state or BMC. The experts involved in this field must roll out the policy covering every section of the people who are due for booster dose and due to delay, unlike citizens internationally getting vaccine boosters, there is a high possibility there will be higher risk for not getting the booster dose," the plea filed by city-based lawyers Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari on December 27 stated.

"It has been observed that efficacy of vaccines is reduced after three months of receiving two doses of vaccines, which increases chances of infection in the person against the new variant," the plea added.