On Monday, the Delhi High Court asked the government to respond to a petition seeking to include people with mental disabilities in the list of specified comorbidities to get the COVID-19 vaccine on a priority basis.
A Bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jasmeet Singh also issued notice to the Central Mental Health Authority and the National Expert Group of Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 and sought their responses and listed the case for further hearing on April 30.
Currently, the government has prioritised healthcare workers, front line workers (personnel for State and Central police department, armed forces, home guard and civil defence organisation including disaster management volunteers, municipal workers, poll officers in election-bound States), persons aged 60 and above and those aged between 45 to 59 years with identified 20 comorbidities for COVID-19 vaccination.
One major group overlooked in the list of comorbidities is persons with severe mental illness, the petition filed by advocate Gaurav Kumar Bansal.
The petition clarified that the 20 points of the list of specified comorbidities include Persons with Intellectual Disabilities and Persons with Disabilities having High Support Needs.
“As per The Schedule of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, Intellectual Disability and mental illness are two different things,” the petition argued.
The plea said the Schedule of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 term “intellectual disability” as a condition characterised by significant limitation both in intellectual functioning (reasoning, learning, problem-solving) and in adaptive behaviour, which covers a range of every day, social and practical skills, including “specified Learning Disabilities” and “Autism Spectrum Disorder.”
However, only a person with intellectual disability who have a valid certificate is eligible for COVID-19 vaccination. The plea said a person with intellectual disability who doesn’t have any certificate is not eligible for the same.
“That due to the above lacuna, thousands of people with intellectual disability who either don’t have a valid certificate … or are homeless [not having any valid ID proof with them] have been prohibited by respondents [authorities] to participate in the vaccination drive on a priority basis,” the petition said.
