HC grants Kejriwal govt time to reply on plea seeking door-to-door vax for elderly

New Delhi, Nov 12 (IANS) The Delhi High Court on Friday granted time to the Delhi government to reply to a plea filed by an 84-year-old woman seeking directions to introduce door-to-door vaccinations on an urgent basis for the elderly and bedridden citizens in the national capital.

A bench of Justices DN Patel and Jyoti Singh granted time to file an affidavit in this regard after the Delhi government told the Court that the policy related to door-to-door vaccination has already been formulated by the Centre and implemented by the States.

The court will hear the matter further on January 12, 2022.

Petitioner's counsel Manan Aggarwal argued that in several states the door-to-door policy has been started, however, the Delhi Government has not given any official statement and the petitioner has still not been vaccinated.

The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) said many senior citizens and bedridden elderly people, who are vulnerable to Covid-19, have no private transport to reach the vaccination centre or a family member who could help them with the registration process.

Petitioner Dhiraj Aggarwal sought direction from the Centre and the Delhi Government to introduce a helpline number for registration of Covid-19 vaccine and a policy on an urgent basis for door-to-door Covid-19 vaccination for senior and bedridden citizens in the capital city.

The octogenarian petitioner stated that if she goes to the vaccine centre she can be exposed to the Covid-19 virus which will be life threatening at her age.

The petitioner is also suffering from arthritis and is mostly bedridden and for her to get up and go to a vaccination centre and wait for her turn to get the vaccine is not possible and due to her condition, she could not get any shot of the Covid-19 vaccine till date.

Many countries like Singapore, Australia already have a system in place to vaccinate old and bed-ridden citizens at their homes by sending a team comprising a doctor and a nurse to administer the vaccine shot, the petitioner pointed out.