News Analysis India

Tag: Vaccination Drive in India

  • Cannot order door-to-door COVID vaccination in this diverse country: Supreme Court

    By PTI

    NEW DELHI: Looking at the diverse conditions of the country, door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination is not feasible and it cannot pass a general direction to just scrap the existing policy, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

    The top court, which refused to entertain a plea of a lawyers’ body seeking door-to-door COVID-19 jab for the disabled and people belonging to weaker sections of society, said the vaccination drive is already in progress and over 60 per cent of the population has been administered the first dose.

    A bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud, Vikram Nath and Hima Kohli asked the petitioner ‘Youth Bar Association’ to approach the competent authority at the Health Ministry with its suggestions.

    ALSO READ | Tamil Nadu seeks one crore extra Covid vaccine doses ahead of next week’s mega drive

    “In Ladakh the situation is different from Kerala. In Uttar Pradesh the situation is different from any other state. In Urban areas the situation is different from rural areas. There are different kinds of problems in every state in this vast country,” the bench said.

    “With one brush you want an order for the entire country. The vaccination drive is already in progress and over 60 per cent of the population has been administered the first dose. One should understand the difficulty. This is a matter of governance; we cannot just scrap the existing policy,” it added.

    The top court told advocate Baby Singh, appearing for the association that a petition cannot be filed in a callous manner.

    ​ALSO READ | Over 70 crore Covid vaccine doses administered in India so far: Union Health Ministry

    The petition sought direction to the Union of India and all states for door to door COVID vaccination of less privileged, disabled, weaker sections of society as they face difficulty in registering themselves on the CoWIN portal.

    The bench said, “The vaccination programme is already underway and this court is monitoring the situation in suo motu proceedings”.

    It said that to pass general directions in view of the diversity of the country is not feasible and practical and added, “Any directions passed should not impinge upon the existing vaccination policy of the government”.

    When the petitioner’s counsel said the Health Ministry should be asked to consider the representation in a time bound manner, the bench said, “we know under how much the pressure the health ministry officials are during these times, they have to look for Oxygen supplies across the country besides looking into other aspects”.

    ALSO WATCH:

  • ‘Accessibility barrier’: Centre asked to clarify how urban-rural gap in vaccine drive be bridged

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Pointing towards the digital divide in rural and urban India when it comes to Covid-19 vaccination, the Supreme Court has asked the Centre to explain how it is going to overcome this through the CoWin app, used for booking slots.

    “A vaccination policy exclusively relying on a digital portal for vaccinating a significant population of this country between the ages of 18 and 44 years would be unable to meet its target of universal immunisation owing to such a digital divide. It is the marginalised sections of the society who would bear the brunt of this accessibility barrier,” the order stated, pointing out that CoWIN is not accessible to persons with visual disabilities, and that accessibility barriers should be addressed. 

    The bench cited the “Household Social Consumption: Education” conducted by the National Statistics Office (July 2017-June 2018) to highlight that around 4 per cent of rural households and 23 per cent of urban households possess a computer.

    Further, in the age group of 15-29, around 24 per cent in rural households and 56 per cent in urban areas are able to operate a computer. It additionally showcases that 24 per cent of the households in the country had internet access during the survey year.

    It cited more data showing that out of a population of 1.3 billion, only 578 million in India (less than 50 per cent) have a subscription to wireless data services. Also, states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam have a tele-density of less than 75 per cent.

    The order from the three-judge bench further states that there exists a digital divide in India, particularly between rural and urban areas. Also, the extent of advances made in improving digital literacy and digital access falls short of penetrating the majority of the population in the country.

    Explanation sought on… 

    Not feasible for majority of population to rely on friends/NGOs for digital registrations over CoWIN
    Overcrowding may also arise at CSCs in rural areas where people would have to visit constantly in hope of a vaccine slot opening up
    Certain vaccination centres may be earmarked for on-site registrations for the population aged between 18 and 44 years
    CoWIN site and other applications like Aarogya Setu be made available in regional languages
    Conducting a disability audit for the CoWIN website and applications like Aarogya Setu to ensure that they are accessible to persons with disabilities