Sonal Bhargava | Prabhat Bandhulya
On Thursday, the Karnataka High Court, in the case Of Arun Kumar Agarwal v. Union of India, issued notice to the Central Government in a plea seeking to allow administration of the COVID-19 vaccine, Covovax, to all adult citizens.
The petition also sought approval from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) for administering the vaccine, which is said to have a 90 per cent efficacy rate. Justice SG Pandit issued an emergent notice in the petition.
Arun Kumar Agarwal, a senior citizen who claimed to be a diabetic patient with comorbidities, filed the petition.
It was argued that the petitioner has a fundamental right to immunisation and that denying him this right would be a violation of his right to life.
Justice SG Pandit issued an emergency notice in which he also requested permission from the Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (CDSCO) to give the vaccination, which is said to have a 90% effectiveness rate.
Covovax was made accessible for vaccination of children aged 12 to 17 starting in the first week of May, according to the petition, and was also being sold in significant quantities to various nations. Adult Indians, on the other hand, were not given this opportunity.
The petitioner argued that making the vaccination available to children rather than adults was arbitrary and without any discernible difference.
According to the plea, the petitioner had been responsibly separating himself from his close family members for the previous two years because he was a senior citizen and diabetic patient.
The petitioner indicated that he had been waiting for the Covovax vaccine to be approved because its efficacy was significantly higher than that of Covisheild and Covaxin.