Supreme Court Asks India to Disclose Vaccine Trial Data

(Bloomberg) -- India's Supreme Court directed the government to disclose results and data on Covid vaccine trials and ruled that people can't be forced to take vaccines.

Disclosures must include reporting on adverse events, key findings of past trials and all data from future trials, a two-judge panel said Monday. It upheld the government's vaccination policy and grant of emergency-use approvals to vaccines.

India has administered 1.89 billion shots as on May 2, fully vaccinating 85% of its adult population. The South Asian nation recently allowed children older than five years to receive Covid shots. 

“Every person taking vaccines should have access to data on the risks and benefits. It's the decent thing to do especially in a democracy,” said Jayaprakash Muliyil, an epidemiologist and member of a task force that advises the government on vaccines. Opacity in trial data and overemphasizing vaccines to prevent spread of infection resulted in vaccine hesitancy, he said.

Forcing people to be vaccinated is against their “bodily integrity” and the court “suggests” the government and private sector review curbs on unvaccinated individuals, the court said.

The government said no one is forced to take a vaccine and lawyers for vaccine makers Serum Institute of India and Bharat Biotech International Ltd. opposed the petition saying required data is already public. 

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