The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a PIL which claimed that the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) affects fertility and sought safeguards in the rollout of the nationwide programme to vaccinate adolescent girls.
A three-judge bench presided over by CJI Surya Kant was critical of the plea by Universal Health Organisation (UHO) — a Delhi-based forum of doctors and academics — which alleged that the exercise was being carried out “without adequate informed parental consent”, but finally allowed it to withdraw the petition.
At the outset, Advocate Shivan Raghuwanshi, appearing for UHO, told the bench, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, that the plea was not against the vaccination programme. “I am not at all anti-vaccine. My first contention is the way it is being implemented. Second, there is no adverse event mechanism. Whenever there is an adverse event, it must be monitored. There should also be a compensation scheme,” he submitted.
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