‘No provision for door-to-door vaccination campaign’: Centre to Bombay HC – Hindustan Times

The Union government on Monday told the Bombay high court that its national guidelines at present do not allow for a door-to-door drive to vaccinate people against the coronavirus disease (Covid-19).

The Centre’s counsel, additional solicitor General Anil Singh pointed out that some state governments and civic bodies decided to ignore the advisories and conducted door-to-door vaccination for citizens who belong to special categories. It said that these drives cannot be made a part of the national vaccination policy at this moment.

The government was responding to a previous query posed by a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni on what it thought about the Brihanmumbai Municipal Commission’s request for door-to-door vaccination of the elderly, bedridden and other citizens who fall in the special category.

“On the BMC’s permission letter to the Union ministry of health and family welfare, the ministry says its current advisory against such drives has been formulated based on recommendations of experts,” the counsel for the government said.

The Centre, however, pointed out that it had not asked the states Kerala, Odisha and Jharkhand, who were conducting such drives, to roll them back. The court also asked the civic body if it would conduct a door-to-door drive in case Maharashtra decides to start it for its citizens who fall under special categories.

“We will follow the state’s guidelines. The state is thinking about the drive but issues like lack of manpower, since three persons will be needed to visit each person getting vaccinated, requirement of ambulance, and ensuring no wastage of vaccine, have to be considered,” BMC’s counsel Anil Sakhare said, according to a PTI report.

The Maharashtra government earlier said that it wanted to launch a Covid-19 door-to-door vaccination campaign. The court was hearing a public interest litigation filed by two advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari. The high court will hear the plea further on June 22.