The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear a plea looking for direction to the Centre to declare pregnant as well as lactating women as high-risk category and be given priority for coronavirus vaccination.
A notice has been issued by a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna to the Centre on the plea of Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR) and sought its answer within two weeks.
Some guidelines have been issued for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers earlier also but according to some reports there may be some serious effect on them due to the vaccination said, advocate Vrinda Grover who is appearing for DCPCR.
According to her, there is a need to declare women in these conditions as high-vulnerable categories and as people do not know much about the virus and are dealing with a virus, hence it needs to conduct continuous research on the effects of vaccinating them.
“There is also a need to create a platform for registry of pregnant and lactating mothers for proper monitoring,” she said.
A petition filed by DCPCR under Article 32 was filed in May earlier this year amid the second wave of coronavirus, which the top court noted and then subsequently operational guidelines were issued for vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers.
The bench said it is issuing notice to the Union of India and seeking its response in two weeks.
The top court also sought the help of Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to explain the court about the policy which has been framed for the vaccination of pregnant women and lactating mothers and what further steps could be taken.
