{"id":92447,"date":"2026-03-13T12:02:49","date_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:32:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=92447"},"modified":"2026-03-13T12:18:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-13T06:48:57","slug":"no-fault-vaccine-compensation-for-covid-vaccine-side-effects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/no-fault-vaccine-compensation-for-covid-vaccine-side-effects\/","title":{"rendered":"No-Fault Vaccine Compensation: SC Orders Relief for Covid Vaccine Side-Effects"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><b>No-Fault Vaccine Compensation Latest News<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court directed the Centre to create a <\/span><b>\u201cno-fault\u201d compensation policy<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> for people who suffered serious side effects or died after receiving Covid vaccines.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court said victims\u2019 families should not have to prove negligence in courts and that the State must provide a structured compensation mechanism as part of its public health responsibility during the vaccination drive.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Background: Vaccine Injury Cases Before the Supreme Court<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court heard petitions filed by families who lost their children or spouses, aged between 18 and 40 years, due to rare complications such as blood clotting disorders after receiving Covishield and Covaxin vaccines in 2021.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Petitioners\u2019 Arguments<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lack of Informed Consent<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The petitioners argued that the government failed to ensure proper informed consent and did not adequately communicate the potential risks associated with the Covid vaccines.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vaccination Effectively Mandatory<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; They also contended that although vaccination was officially voluntary, administrative restrictions on unvaccinated individuals effectively made it mandatory, thereby infringing their fundamental rights.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Government\u2019s Defence<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Safety and Regulatory Approval &#8211; <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Union government maintained that the vaccines had undergone rigorous regulatory approvals and that India\u2019s system for detecting Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI) was robust.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Rare Incidence of Vaccine-Related Deaths<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; It argued that vaccine-related deaths were extremely rare, citing a reporting rate of 0.001 per one lakh doses for certain clotting disorders.<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Existing Legal Remedies<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The government suggested that affected families could seek compensation by approaching civil or consumer courts and proving negligence by vaccine manufacturers.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Supreme Court\u2019s Observations<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Bench rejected the suggestion of pursuing individual cases in lower courts.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It noted that proving negligence in vaccine injury cases involves complex scientific evidence, which places an excessive burden on families.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court also warned that forcing families into multiple individual legal battles could lead to inconsistent outcomes and unequal access to relief, undermining the principle of equality under Article 14 of the Constitution.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>No-Fault Liability and the Right to Health<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To address vaccine injury claims, the Supreme Court invoked the principle of \u201c<\/span><b>no-fault liability<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">,\u201d which allows victims or their families to receive compensation without proving negligence or wrongdoing.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court noted that this principle already exists in Indian law, such as in motor vehicle accident compensation, and is commonly used in vaccine injury compensation schemes in countries like <\/span><b>Australia, the United Kingdom, and Japan<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Constitutional Basis under Article 21<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The judgment relied on <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/article-21-of-indian-constitution\/\" target=\"_blank\">Article 21<\/a><\/strong> of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to life and the right to health.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court emphasised that the State cannot remain a passive observer to human suffering but must act as a guardian of welfare and dignity.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Since the Covid-19 vaccination programme was a State-led public health initiative, the government has a responsibility to support those who suffered serious adverse outcomes, regardless of how rare they are.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Reference to Earlier Supreme Court Ruling<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Court clarified that it was not reviewing the scientific validity of the vaccines.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It cited its 2022 judgment in <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jacob Puliyel vs Union of India<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which upheld the legality of the vaccine approval process and the AEFI monitoring system, while affirming that bodily integrity under Article 21 means vaccination cannot be forcibly imposed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Adequacy of Existing AEFI Mechanisms<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on the earlier ruling, the Court refused to establish a separate expert medical board to investigate vaccine-related deaths.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It stated that the existing AEFI committees are sufficient for monitoring and investigation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>Directive to Formulate Compensation Framework<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to quickly develop and publish a no-fault compensation policy for serious adverse events related to the Covid-19 vaccination drive.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It clarified that such a policy should not be treated as an admission of liability or fault by the Union government.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>Supreme Court\u2019s Direction on Compensation for Covid-19 Deaths<\/b><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Supreme Court\u2019s recent judgment on vaccine injury compensation reflects its earlier intervention during the pandemic in the 2021 case of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gaurav Kumar Bansal vs Union of India<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which dealt with financial relief for families of Covid-19 victims.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It directed the NDMA to frame guidelines for providing ex gratia compensation to families of those who died due to Covid-19.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><b>NDMA Guidelines on Ex Gratia Compensation<\/b><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Following the Court\u2019s direction, the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/national-disaster-management-authority-ndma\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>NDMA<\/strong> <\/a>issued guidelines in September 2021, fixing an ex gratia amount of \u20b950,000 for each Covid-19 death, to be paid by states through the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To ensure fair access to compensation, a simplified procedure was introduced.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Deaths occurring within 30 days of a positive Covid-19 test were treated as Covid deaths, and district-level grievance redressal committees were established to resolve disputes over death certificates.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Source: <\/span><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/explained\/explained-law\/sc-no-fault-compensation-policy-for-covid-vaccine-side-effects-10578294\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">IE<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/india\/sc-asks-centre-to-draft-no-fault-compensation-policy-for-serious-covid-vaccine-side-effects\/articleshow\/129378099.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">ToI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No-Fault Vaccine Compensation policy ordered by the Supreme Court to support families affected by Covid vaccine side-effects without proving negligence, citing Article 21 and public health responsibility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":92460,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[60,6041,22,59],"class_list":{"0":"post-92447","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"tag-mains-articles","9":"tag-no-fault-vaccine-compensation","10":"tag-upsc-current-affairs","11":"tag-upsc-mains-current-affairs","12":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92447"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":92479,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92447\/revisions\/92479"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}