NRI Moves Kerala High Court Seeking Priority Administration Of Covid19 Vaccine For Expats; Direction To UOI To Ensure Inclusion Of Covaxin In WHO List

Firstly, the Petitioner has pointed out that foreign countries including the GCC countries will soon mandatorily require full dose immunization to undertake foreign travels. Thus, he has urged the High Court to direct the Centre that priority may be given to administer the second dose of vaccine to the Petitioner and other expatriates.

"It is therefore, imperative that the expatriates who require their second shots on an urgent basis to be able to travel for employment, be given priority so that they will not have to wait indefinitely," the Petitioner has submitted.

Secondly, it is stated that the Vaccine certificates issued in India does not provide the complete name of Covishield Vaccine and for that reason, it is not accepted for taking travel to Saudi Arabia.

It is urged that to a direction be made to the Respondent-authorities to provide the complete name of the COVISHIELD vaccine in the Vaccination Certificate i.e. "Oxford–AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine".

Thirdly, it is stated that many expats are facing rejection of entry to many countries owing to the fact their Vaccination papers does not contain Passport Numbers whereas, several expatriates needed such an option in view of the imminent expiry of their visas and urgent travel requirement for jobs.

A direction is therefore sought to the Respondent to include the Passport Number as the Identification Number in the Vaccination Certificate for all the Persons vaccinated in India.

Lastly, it is submitted that Covaxin vaccine is not recognized by WHO in their emergency vaccine list and neither it is recognized by most of the countries internationally.

"It is therefore imperative that the Union ensure that Covaxin is also accepted internationally by countries and that WHO also enlists it in their List. Doing so is imperative in keeping the interests of the citizens who will no doubt be required to travel internationally in the time to come, once travel restrictions are gradually lifted," the Petitioner has urged.

The Petitioner is represented by Advocates Haris Beeran and Nuriya OA.