Kerala HC disposed of plea seeking 3rd jab with internationally recognised COVID-19 vaccine
Nov 29, 2021
Kochi (Kerala) [India], November 29 : Kerala High Court disposed of a plea seeking a third jab with an internationally recognised COVID-19 vaccine filed by a Non-Resident Indian (NRI) who works in Saudi Arabia.
The court disposed of after taking note of the submission of the Central Government that Saudi Arabia has withdrawn its ban on travellers from India.
The petition was filed by Girikumar Thekan Kunnumpurath who have been administered two Covaxin doses.
According to the petition, Kunnumpurath said that "if I will not vaccinate with an internationally recognised vaccine, I could lose the job in Saudi."
"The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has not approved the Covaxin yet and this is creating hindrance in my job. The Kingdom only approves Covishield, which is the equivalent of AstraZeneca," he said.
In the last hearing on November 16, Single Bench of Justice PV Kunhikrishnan said, "the Court cannot comment whether a booster shot of Covishield should be provided to the petitioner or not but this is a clear violation of Fundamental Rights."
"I am not blaming the Central Government at all. All I am saying is that this is an individual concern and he is refrained from going back to his workplace, so it should be redressed," he noted.
The court observed then that "there are two groups of people in the country, ones who were administered Covishield can travel across international borders and one those who vaccinated with Covaxin have refrained.
The Court asked the Central Government to answer and redress his grievances.
