Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it was encouraging to note that not a single bed-ridden person, who was administered the COVID-19 vaccine at home by the Mumbai civic body, showed any adverse reaction to the jab. A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G S Kulkarni said it was satisfied that the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) was moving in the right direction with regard to reaching out to bed-ridden people to give them the vaccine, and said all other civic bodies and district councils in the state should follow suit.
The door-to-door vaccination drive began as a pilot project in Mumbai on July 30. The BMC on Wednesday submitted an affidavit in the HC, saying 4,889 bed-ridden people registered for home vaccination so far and out of them, 1,317 were given the jabs.
The affidavit said there was not a single case of adverse effect following immunisation (AEFI). This statement is very encouraging. We record our satisfaction that the BMC has been moving in the right direction. We hope and trust that more such people are covered in the home vaccination drive, the court said.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari, seeking a direction to the Union government to start door-to-door vaccination for senior citizens above the age of 75 years, specially- abled people and those who are bed-ridden or wheelchair-bound. The petition said such people would be unable to go to the vaccination centres.
The Centre had expressed its inability to introduce the door-to-door vaccination drive on the ground of wastage of vaccines and risk of adverse reactions. The Maharashtra government last month said it would initiate the drive and framed a policy for the same. The drive started in Mumbai as a pilot project.
On Thursday, Kapadia told the court that the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation and the Thane Municipal Corporation in the neighbouring district have also started the home vaccination drive. We would encourage all other municipal corporations and district councils across the state to initiate measures for home vaccination of bed-ridden individuals in accordance with the state government's policy and following the same pattern as adopted by the BMC, the bench said.
The court posted the plea for further hearing on September 9.
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