Nobody can be forced to undergo COVID-19 vaccinations: Supreme Court

The Supreme Court on Monday said that no person can be forced to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and asked the Centre to make public the effect of such an immunisation.

A bench of Justices L Nageswara Rao and B R Gavai said bodily autonomy and integrity are protected under Article 21 of the Constitution.

The top court said the current COVID-19 vaccine policy cannot be said to be manifestly arbitrary and unreasonable.

"Till numbers are low, we suggest that relevant orders are followed and no restriction is imposed on unvaccinated individuals on access to public areas or recall the same if already not done," the bench said.

Regarding segregation of vaccine trial data, subject to privacy of individuals, all trials conducted and to be subsequently conducted, all data must be made available to the public without further delay, it said.

The apex court also directed the Union of India to publish reports on adverse events of vaccines from the public and doctors on a publicly accessible system without compromising data of individuals.

The court delivered the judgement on a plea filed by Jacob Puliyel seeking directions for disclosure of data on clinical trials of COVID-19 vaccines and post-jab cases.