Will start home vaccination trial in Pune, state tells Bombay HC – Times of India

Mumbai: The state will start trials for vaccinating the bed-bound at home in Pune district soon, the advocate general (AG) told the Bombay high court on Wednesday.
“We will take our own decision. We will explore this possibility (for home vaccination) on a trial basis in Pune district,’’ said AG Ashutosh Kumbhakoni, adding the state will not seek or wait for an approval from the Centre. An email address would be created right away for people to send in queries or requests. Proper awareness would be created too, said Kumbhakoni.
The HC will further hear the matter on Thursday in chambers on the AG’s request to avoid any misconception. It will also hear Dr Sanjay Oak, chief of the state Covid-19 task force, and advocate Dhruti Kapadia, whose PIL for door-step jabs for the elderly, specially abled and bedridden persons is being heard.
The state public health department had said in its affidavit on Monday that it would propose home vaccination for the bedridden and immobile on an experimental basis based on guidelines set out by the task force, but with mandatory pre-conditions and only after seeking state and central approval. In open court, it was rebuked on Tuesday by a bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Girish Kulkarni, who said: “This affidavit dilutes the state Covid task force guidelines… This is not what we expected from the state.”
The state’s affidavit had come after the HC appreciated the draft guidelines framed by the task force on June 22. It gave the state a week’s time, as sought, to finalise the norms.
The conditions in Monday’s affidavit require a mandatory certificate from a person’s family doctor to show the person is “truly immobile and bedridden” and also a certificate that any adverse reaction would be unlikely and, if there is, the doctor would be entirely responsible in treating it. The proposal also seeks written consent from a family member and rounding up of 10 vaccine recipients so that a vial once opened at home is not wasted.
The HC on Wednesday asked that in hospitals, when written consent is taken for any critical procedure, is the doctor required to certify his or her responsibility towards the treatment?
The HC also asked Kumbhakoni if adverse reaction (AEFI) was really still the state’s concern and pointed to new reports of how in Tripura, over 80% eligible population has been vaccinated, including a 99-year-old woman with co-morbidities. Kumbhakoni said he would address the HC on Thursday.