NEW DEHLI (LifeSiteNews) – India’s Supreme Court ruled Monday that no one can be forced to receive a vaccine and ordered the government to release vaccine trial data.
The court added, however, that “as long as there is a risk of spreading the disease, there can be restrictions placed on individuals’ rights in larger public interest,” the Indian Express reported.
Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai argued that “bodily integrity is protected under Article 21 of the Constitution,” and therefore “no individual can be forced to be vaccinated,” the Indian news outlet shared.
“Further, personal autonomy of an individual, which is a recognized facet of the protections guaranteed under Article 21, encompasses the right to refuse to undergo any medical treatment in the sphere of individual health,” the opinion continued.
The court also directed the government to make findings of adverse events after vaccination “publicly accessible.”
The ruling was the culmination of a petition filed by Dr. Jacob Puliyel, a former member of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI), who sought the overturning of vaccine mandates and the disclosure of vaccine trial data.
Writing for the court, Justice Rao noted that they had not seen any data refuting the “emerging scientific opinion” presented by the petitioner that “the risk of transmission of the virus from unvaccinated individuals is almost on par with that from vaccinated persons,” and therefore, the “various vaccine mandates by state governments / Union territories cannot be said to be proportionate.”
Elaborating on the ruling’s open door for the restriction of other personal freedoms, Rao wrote that while people who want to avoid vaccination can do so, “if there is a likelihood of such individuals spreading the infection to other people or contributing to mutation of the virus or burdening of the public health infrastructure,” then the government can “impos[e] certain limitations on individual rights that are reasonable and proportionate to the object sought to be fulfilled,” the Indian Express reported.
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Noting that information on adverse effects following vaccination “is crucial” for informing people about the “efficacy” of vaccines, the court also directed the Centre “to facilitate reporting of suspected adverse events by individuals and private doctors on an accessible virtual platform. These reports shall be made publicly accessible, without compromising on protecting the confidentiality of the persons reporting….”
The justices also supported the country’s vaccination of children, writing that this decision “is in tune with global scientific consensus … and it is beyond the scope of review for this court to second guess expert opinion on the basis of which the government has drawn up its policy.”
India has been vaccinating children aged 12 to 14 since March of this year and only recently recommended emergency use authorization for vaccination of children five and up.
However, the court added an instruction to “the Union of India to ensure that key findings” of the “relevant phases of clinical trial of vaccines … for administration to children be made public at the earliest if not already done,” it said.
COVID shots have been linked to serious side effects in young people, including myocarditis, or heart inflammation, which can be life-threatening. Studies have shown that the myocarditis risk for men under 40 is higher after vaccination than after COVID-19 and that one in 2,680 boys between ages 12-17 will develop the condition within two weeks of a second Pfizer dose.
The Indian Supreme Court ruling succeeds a similar judgment in August 2021 by the High Court of Meghalaya, a state of northeast India, that forced vaccination is a “crime.”
By most reports, about 80 percent of India’s adult population is currently “fully vaccinated,” and according to the BBC, over 99 percent of adults have received at least one COVID-19 shot.
The international media outlet further notes that the country has approved nine vaccines, five of which have been locally made, and only two of which “have been widely used,” including the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine locally known as Covishield.