PIL In Supreme Court Challenges COVID Vaccination For Children, Seeks Probe Into Adverse Effects

In the backdrop of the rollout of vaccinations of children by the Central Government, a PIL has been filed before the Supreme Court of India seeking quashing of Union of India's order dated 4th January 2022 mandating Covid vaccination of children in critical care institutions within the age group of 15-18, and a further direction for an expert probe into adverse effects among children after vaccination.

The petitioners are five individuals who say that they lost their children due to adverse effects after taking COVID vaccination.

The petition, which makes Union Government and all State Governments and Union Territories as respondents,  has also sought an investigation by an expert group into the deaths/ serious adverse events amongst children following the immunisation.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves on Monday sought urgent listing of the matter before a Bench comprising CJI NV Ramana, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice Hima Kohli.

"This is a fresh matter regarding children. In states including, MP, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, deaths taking place after the rollout. We want to prevent further deaths. Let it be listed tomorrow," Mr Gonsalves said.

"This is before Justice Chandrachud let him take up. Sorry, I can't pressurise judges to take up the matter. Let me see, I will examine," CJI had said.

The present petition has sought an order constituting a group of experts consisting of one Dr. Arvind Kushwaha (AIIMS, Nagpur), Dr. Amitav Banerjee (Clinical Epidemiologist, D Y Patel Vidyapeeth, Pune), Dr. Sanjay Rai (AIIMS, Delhi), Dr. Jayprakash Muliyel (CMC, Vellore) to investigate the deaths of children reported in this petition and other similar deaths and to make a report to this court within 1 week along with recommendations as to whether the COVID Vaccine should or should not be administered to children.

The petition has argued that the 4th January circular by the Ministry of Women and Child Development - which directed District Magistrates to vaccinate children in Child Care Institutions - is illegal and unconstitutional, and contrary to the position of the Union of India as per its Counter Affidavit filed on November 28th, 2021 saying that it has not mandated for Covid 19 vaccines to be administered mandatorily.

Further, in a recent affidavit dated 13th January 2022 submitted before the Supreme Court on behalf of Union of India it has once again made clear that Covid vaccination is voluntary.

The petition has stated that since the rollout of Covid vaccination for 15-18 years age group began, the Covid-19 vaccine has already caused Severe Adverse Events leading to death in many children in the short time since the program has begun. The petition has also included instances of some of these deaths.

According to the petitioner, the Covid-19 vaccine, currently approved for children, Covaxin and Zycov-d, are experimental vaccines under Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA), which means that they have not been approved and their non-approval status is because their Phase III trial is either not complete and it has not been subjected to peer review.

The petition has pointed out that several activists in Mumbai along with Mothers, Fathers, Lawyers and Doctors had organized a press conference and demonstration to protest the vaccination of children, especially for coercive measures being taken by private institutions across the country.

The petitioners have argued that the Covid-19 vaccines approved in India produce or have the Spike Protein, which is cytotoxic, pathogenic and biologically active, and can be severely harmful and lead to severe illness.

It has been submitted that the technology of Covid-19 vaccines is a textbook case for the application of the Precautionary Principle, which necessitates that if there are reasonable scientific grounds for believing that a new process or product may not be safe, it should not be introduced until there is convincing evidence of reasonable certainly of no harm.

Case Title: Daniyelu Kondipogu vs Union of India & Ors