Maharashtra to trial door-to-door vaccinations; won't wait for Centre's nod: Govt to HC

The Maharashtra government informed the Bombay High Court on Wednesday that it would not wait for the Centre’s approval and proceed with implementing door-to-door vaccination on an experimental basis. Appearing before a Division Bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice G.S. Kulkarni, Advocate General (AG) Ashutosh Kumbhakoni said Maharashtra has proposed home vaccination for bed-ridden people on an experimental basis. 

"We will not refer the proposal to start home vaccination to the Centre for approval. We (state government) will take our own decision. We want to do it on an experimental basis, and we propose to start it from Pune, as the size of the district is neither too large nor too small,” the AG said, adding that it would be done just the way vaccination was conducted for students going abroad.

Kumbhakoni said the government will invite suggestions from citizens and there will be additional conditions, that are to be finalised. He also said there were some concerns of the administration that he would discuss with the judges in their chambers.

The court said, “We hope and pray that you do not press for the condition for the doctor to give his undertaking. In a critical operation, the hospital takes the undertaking of patients’ relatives. Don’t give this impractical condition that no one comes forward.”

The HC was hearing a PIL by two advocates from Mumbai – Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari – who sought door-to-door vaccination for those above 75 years of age and who used a wheelchair.

Bombay HC pulls up Maharashtra govt over home vaccination

On Tuesday, the state government in its affidavit said it would have to first take approval from the Union government before starting home vaccinations against COVID-19. This prompted the court to question why the approval was required when other states like Kerala, Jharkhand, and Bihar have already started door-to-door vaccination.

The High Court on Wednesday pointed out some media reports of nurses and doctors travelling to people's homes in a hilly region of Tripura to administer the vaccine. The court posted the matter for further hearing on Thursday in the judges' chamber in the presence of the chairman of the State COVID-19 Task Force.