SCBA seeks priority COVID-19 inoculation of legal fraternity to resume physical hearings
The Supreme Court Bar Association urged the Centre to include the legal fraternity in the category of frontline workers for the purpose of COVID-19 vaccination.
- India News
- 3 min read
On Monday, the Supreme Court Bar Association urged the Centre to include the legal fraternity in the category of frontline workers for the purpose of COVID-19 vaccination. In a letter addressed to Union Law & Justice Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, SCBA opined that this step would ensure the priority inoculation of judges, judicial staff and other members of the legal fraternity. Maintaining that this would be in the largest interests of the litigating public, it stated that early vaccination of the aforesaid category would ensure the resumption of physical hearings in courts.
According to the lawyers' body, the pandemic-induced restrictions have led to a restricted audience, limited hearing of cases, delays in hearings and deprivation of the rights of incarcerated persons. As per the country's current policy, 3 crore frontline workers shall be vaccinated in the first phase followed by the people aged above 50 years and the under-50 population group with co-morbidities. Moreover, PM Modi has made it clear that the public representatives do not fall in the category of frontline workers and advised them to take the vaccine only when their turn comes.
COVID-19 vaccination in India
On January 3, the Drugs Controller General of India accepted the recommendations of the Subject Expert Committee of the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, paving way for the approval of COVISHIELD and COVAXIN. Manufactured by the Serum Institute of India with technology transfer from Oxford University-AstraZeneca, COVISHIELD is a Recombinant Chimpanzee Adenovirus vector vaccine with its overall efficacy of 70.42 per cent. On the other hand, COVAXIN is a Whole Virion Inactivated Corona Virus Vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech in collaboration with ICMR and NIV.
Advertisement
It has been approved in "public interest" in the clinical trial mode so that there can be more options for vaccination in case of infection by mutant strains. Countering the charge that COVAXIN was approved hastily, Union Health Minister Dr. Harsh Vardhan has made it clear that all the recipients of this vaccine will be tracked and monitored as if they are in clinical trial mode. Earlier on January 16, PM Modi launched the pan-India rollout of the novel coronavirus vaccination drive via video conferencing.
Congratulating the citizens for their resilient fight against the pandemic, he requested them to shun conspiracy theories about the vaccines. A total of 3,81,305 beneficiaries have been vaccinated for the novel coronavirus in 7,704 sessions held across the country as of 5 pm on January 18. So far, a 52-year-old person from Moradabad, UP and a 43-year-old individual from Ballari, Karnataka have passed away after being administered the first dose of COVISHIELD.