A division bench of the Madras High Court comprising Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy, while hearing a suo moto COVID-19 case, asked the Centre and the states to consider prioritizing vaccination for citizens undertaking international travel.
The bench asked the state and Centre to consider prioritizing vaccination after intervenors suggested that students who wish to study abroad and residents who had come on short visas should be vaccinated.
A petition filed by Grace Banu prayed for prioritizing vaccination for transgender people in Tamil Nadu keeping in mind their vulnerability and additionally urged the Court to issue directions to conduct awareness campaigns for Transgender Persons in Tamil Nadu and assist them to register online.
Another petition filed by M.Karpagam also prayed for vaccination programme targeted at homebound persons and persons with disabilities.
The bench observed that “There are several sections of citizens who require special attention, not the least of them being the classes indicated by the petitioner and even inmates at correctional homes…a more detailed study requires to be conducted as to the initiatives to be taken to deal with the vulnerable classes referred to by the petitioner."
The court, keeping the aforementioned grounds of people in mind, directed the State to indicate a road-map for vaccination.
