Authorities not liable to compensate for COVID-19 vaccine deaths, damage: Centre tells Supreme Court docket

The federal government can't be held liable to pay compensation for deaths due to the administration of COVID-19 vaccines, the Centre has instructed the Supreme Court docket.

“Holding the state instantly liable to supply compensation underneath the slender scope of strict legal responsibility for very uncommon deaths occurring because of AEFIs (opposed occasions following immunisation) from the usage of vaccines is probably not legally sustainable,” the affidavit mentioned.

The federal government had made “substantial efforts” to make sure

a safe and effective vaccination programmed towards COVID-19. The federal government mentioned data was made freely accessible within the public area by each the vaccine producer and the Well being Ministry. Extra data might be had on the asking from well being employees on the vaccination centres, or medical doctors.

“As such, as soon as a vaccine beneficiary who has entry to all related data voluntarily chooses to enter a vaccination centre and obtain vaccination, the query of a scarcity of knowledgeable consent doesn't come up,” the federal government mentioned.

It mentioned if beneficiaries had suffered bodily damage or loss of life from an AEFI, applicable treatments in regulation had been accessible to them or their households. They may strategy civil courts to assert damages for negligence, malfeasance or misfeasance. “Such claims could also be decided on a case-by-case foundation in an applicable discussion board,” the federal government argued.

The affidavit mentioned that until November 19, 2022, a complete of 219.86 crore doses of COVID 19 vaccines had been administered within the nation.

A complete of 92,114 AEFI instances (0.0042%) had been reported throughout this era, of which 89,332 (0.0041%) had been minor AEFI instances and a pair of,782 instances had been critical and extreme AEFIs (0.00013%).