At Home COVID-19 Vaccine Booster Jabs For Senior Citizens: Uttarakhand High Court Directs State

The Uttarakhand High Court has directed the State to give the option to senior citizens to be jabbed with the booster doses of COVID-19 vaccination in their homes.

For those unable to travel to the vaccination center, the State shall administer the precaution doses in their homes.

The development ensued in an ongoing batch of PILs related to the COVID-19 situation in the State, where an application was moved through Advocate Shiv Bhatt seeking to postpone the upcoming assembly elections.

The matter was being heard by a Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Sanjay Kumar Mishra and Justice Alok Kumar Verma.

On the last hearing date, the High Court had suggested that the Election Commission of India consider virtual rallies and online voting as an alternative in the upcoming assembly elections amidst the rising Omicron cases.

The ECI has informed the Court that all public rallies, nukkad meetings, and roadshows have been banned till January 15 in poll-bound states. Further, candidates can fulfill the nomination process online and avoid unnecessary movement for submitting papers to the returning officer.

In addition to this, it was stated that other guidelines issued by the ECI are enough to tackle the situation of COVID in the State.

Accordingly, and also taking note of the fact that the election notification has already been issued, the High Court has asked ECI to handle the election matters appropriately amidst the rising infections.

The Counsel for the State Government informed the Court that the Monitoring Committees are submitting their reports regularly. The Court, in this regard, asked the State Government to analyze these reports and submit an affidavit before the next date of hearing.

The matter is listed on February 15, 2022.

Case Title: Sh Sachdanand Dabral v. Union of India & Ors.