The vaccine mandates judgment: Some reflections

This paper scrutinises the Supreme Court Judgment of May 2, 2022, in a vaccine mandate-related petition. The Hon'ble Court's Order reasserts the primacy of right to privacy and Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution of India. However, in the interest of protection of communitarian health, the Court felt that the Government is entitled to regulate issues of public health concern by imposing certain limitations on individual rights, which are open to scrutiny by constitutional Courts. However, such mandatory vaccination directives with preconditions cannot invade an individual's right to personal autonomy and right to access means of livelihood, and must meet the threefold criteria laid down in K.S.Puttaswamy, a landmark judgment of 2017. This paper examines the validity of the arguments adopted in the Order and suggests certain infirmities therein. Nevertheless, the Order is a balancing act, and worth celebrating. The paper concludes, as a cup that is "a quarter full", as a victory for human rights and as a safeguard against unreasonableness and arbitrariness in medico-scientific decision-making that takes the citizen's compliance and consent for granted. If the State runs amok by way of mandatory health directives, this Order may come to the rescue of the hapless citizen.