Who will get vaccinated when there’s no vaccine, asks Delhi High Court to Centre

May 14: “You have been playing that irritating caller tune on the phone regarding vaccination whenever one makes a call when you actually don’t have vaccine…. You are not vaccinating people but you still say- ‘Get vaccinated’. Who will get vaccinated when there is no vaccine?” While criticising the Centre over shortage of Covid-19 vaccine, the Delhi High Court posed this question.

The court was hearing a plea by the Delhi State Legal Services Authority (DSLSA), represented by advocate Ajay Verma, seeking directions to the Centre and Delhi government to urgently vaccinate judicial officers and legal aid lawyers at the vaccination centres set up in district courts.

On Thursday, the court asked the Centre and Delhi government whether legal aid lawyers and judicial officers in the 18-44 age bracket, working to implement Supreme Court orders to decongest prisons, can walk-in for vaccination shots at the centres set up in district courts, saying “you cannot send someone to war without a gun”. Justice Navin Chawla said legal aid lawyers and judicial officers were working to ensure that the apex court”s directions are implemented and need to be protected against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The High Court said the Centre should at the very least ensure that everyone in the country receives a vaccine, “even if you are going to take money” for it. “That is what even children are saying,” the bench said, adding that the government needs to be “innovative” in such matters. The judges added that instead of playing the same tune repeatedly, the central authorities should add variations to it by coming up with new messages.

“There should be a sense of urgency,” the bench said and directed the Centre and Delhi government to file their reports by May 18 on the steps they are going to take for disseminating information on Covid management.