Supreme Court asks Centre to frame no-fault Covid vaccine compensation policy

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the government to frame a no-fault compensation policy for individuals who suffer serious adverse events following Covid-19 vaccination, while clarifying that the existing mechanism for monitoring Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) shall continue to operate.

The court further directed that relevant data regarding such adverse events should be periodically placed in the public domain, in accordance with the observations made earlier in the 2021 judgment.

The court was hearing a petition in which the parents of two young women who allegedly died due to side-effects associated with Covid vaccination had sought compensation as well as scrutiny of vaccination records and treatment protocols.


However, the parents expressed their dissatisfaction.

"The judgment is not yet available and I am waiting for it to study and respond fully. However, looking at the operative part, it is apparent that the core ask - systemic remedy of court-mandated full disclosure and informed consent in all public health measures - to prevent such tragedies from befalling anyone in this country has not been addressed at all," said Venugopalan Govindan, one of the petitioners.

"I am afraid we lost a golden chance to remedy the public health delivery system issues of this country," he further said.

The petitioners had sought the top court's intervention to form an expert panel to investigate the side-effects of Covid vaccination. They wanted compensation to be paid to the families of all those who may have died after taking the vaccine.

They later filed an additional affidavit, written submission and also an application to amend the prayers, seeking that all government communication on vaccines "should specify that these are voluntary" and also explain the possible serious adverse events. They also wanted treatment protocols for such adverse events to be sent to all hospitals.

In 2022, the union government had filed a counter-affidavit in the matter, arguing that it was not liable to compensate as vaccination was a voluntary act undertaken by persons who took an informed decision on the basis of the risks notified.

The parents, in their original writ petition, also sought that the expert medical board be independent of the government to forthwith inquire into and investigate the deaths of their daughters, and to share the report of the investigation with them. They also appealed to the court to direct the expert medical board to prepare a protocol for early detection and timely treatment for adverse events following immunisation due to the Covid-19 vaccine.

On Tuesday, the court clarified that no separate court-appointed expert body is required for examining vaccine-related adverse events, noting that the existing surveillance and monitoring framework will continue.