The Supreme Court asked the Secretary to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to take a considered view of the suggestions which has been formulated by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and take appropriate decisions as to whether any modifications or changes are required to make the existing pattern of vaccination of disables more effective so as to achieve its purpose.
The plea was filed by the NGO Evara Foundation seeking a door-to-door facility of vaccination for the disabled. With the motto ‘Making Real and Sustainable Difference’ the organisation has been working for the empowerment of persons with disabilities and towards the overall betterment of society for a long time.
A bench of Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and Surya Kant states that “The issue raised by the petitioners is not adversarial since it relates to augmenting the support facilities which would ensure vaccination to the disabled is made available on the seamless basis without the inconvenience and preferably at the doorsteps. During the course of the hearing, individual suggestions have come before the court. We are in the view that instead of ad hoc suggestions, it will be appropriate to have a proper framework with the engagement of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment… The Ministry may carry on the exercise for the period of 3weeks and then place comprehensive suggestions and proposals if any which are received before the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
The preliminary affidavit was filed by the Central government which is being followed by a more comprehensive affidavit dated Jan 13 2022.
During the course of the hearing, advocate Pankaj Sinha appearing on behalf of the petitioners has highlighted several concerns firstly, according to the Centre’s affidavit, around 23,678 disabled persons have been vaccinated and this figure is indicated as the low rate of vaccination for the disabled.
Secondly, it is been submitted that the helpline which is provided such as 1075, 0120, 1204 do not result in a proper response and the persons who answer the call has been either unaware of the information about vaccination or in some cases the number is invalid.
Thirdly, it is submitted that the government made Covid software ‘CoWIN’ should have been certified for accessibility by the domain.
Responding to the same the ASG, Aishwarya Bhati submitted that the number 23,678 persons reflected in the Centre’s affidavit comprised of those persons who utilized unique identity disability cards for the purpose of vaccination. She further submitted that as many as 9 ids are acceptable for the purpose of vaccination of which the disability card is one and hence the figure of 23,678 persons would not take into account other disabled persons who may have used an alternative form of identity. Apart from this, the Union of India also submitted that provisions have been made for home vaccination centres but since November 2021, the Union Government has launched the ‘Har Ghar Dastak Abhiyaan’ to ensure 100% coverage of eligible beneficiaries with the first dose.
SG submitted that for the walk-in registration, the registration in CoWIN portal has become subsidiary important and about non-responsive of the helpline numbers, she submitted that the staff of the call centre/helpline are expected to be trained by the State Government to have proper responsive for the people.
The affidavit in response to a petition filed by NGO Evara Foundation in the Apex Court seeking door-to-door, priority Covid-19 vaccination for persons with disabilities, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said that it has not issued any SOP that makes it mandatory to carry the vaccination certificate for any purpose.
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The Central government stated that the directions and guidelines issued by the Central government and the Ministry were in the larger public interest, keeping in view the Covid pandemic.
The Supreme Court had earlier permitted the Foundation to formulate any concrete steps to strengthen the existing framework for facilitating the vaccination of disabled persons, and ensure that they have proper access to the process to which the government had then said that it had accordingly received the suggestions and considered them.
Further, the matter has been listed after 4 weeks.