Maharashtra: Plea seeks door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination for people over 75
What's the story
A public interest litigation has been filed in the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to the Centre, Maharashtra government, and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation to provide door-to-door COVID-19 vaccination for people over 75 and those who are physically challenged or bed-ridden. The petition stated that such persons may not be able to visit vaccination centers or may find it difficult to do so.
Price
Authorities free to fix a price on the service: Petition
The plea, filed by advocates Dhruti Kapadia and Kunal Tiwari, said, "It is the need of the hour for the Union government to start door-to-door vaccination so that senior citizens and specially-abled (both physical and mental) citizens are able to get the vaccine without having to leave their house." The authorities could fix charges of around Rs. 500 to provide the facility, it stated.
Request
Plea cited that BMC had previously made a similar request
The petitioners also referred to a letter written by the BMC to the state government seeking permission to take its vaccination drive door-to-door across Mumbai to increase the number of beneficiaries of the COVID-19 vaccination drive in the country. "However, this request was declined on the ground that there is no such policy for door-to-door vaccination for COVID-19," the plea said.
Hearing
Plea expected to come up for hearing next week
Senior citizens above the age of 75, who live alone, do not know how to register online and are unable to book appointments independently, the petition stated. Another hurdle at vaccination centers is long queues and the waiting time sometimes goes over four hours. A division bench of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice GS Kulkarni is likely to hear the plea next week.
Figures
India reported over 81K COVID-19 cases on Thursday
India has been witnessing a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases amid growing concerns over mutated strains of the virus and increasing laxity among people in adhering to coronavirus-related protocols. In fact, the country on Thursday reported 81,466 COVID-19 cases - the highest jump in a day since December 6. The current wave of the coronavirus is expected to reach its peak later this month.