In a bid to curb the lasting impact of the COVID-19 infection, Tapish Saraswat, a law student from Jaipur has filed a Human Rights complaint on behalf of the lactating mothers in the country. Seeking urgent intervention from the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), the Rajasthan University pupil has appealed for priority vaccination among young mothers.

He has also requested to include this category in the guidelines issued on May 27, 2021, by the Ministry of Health, to ease the availability of COVID jabs in vaccination centres in residential grids.

NHRC directs to fast-track vaccination in lactating mothers

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Taking note of the complaint, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has directed the Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW), to take appropriate action and submit an Action Taken Report (ATR) for prioritising vaccination of lactating mothers in India.

"Now, the government has recommended that all lactating mothers can get vaccinated. About 67,000 babies are born every day in India, approximately 2.7 crore pregnancies in a year are recorded in our country, putting them directly at risk of getting infected. So there is an urgent need for vaccination of lactating mothers on a priority basis and to include them in the guidelines which were issued on May 27, 2021 by the Ministry of Health regarding 'Near to Home' COVID Vaccination Centres. Slow vaccination of lactating mothers not only endangers their lives but could also lead to their babies having to suffer the consequences," he detailed in his charge.

The NHRC in its order stated, "This complaint be transmitted to the concerned authority for such action as deemed appropriate. The authority concerned is directed to take appropriate action within eight weeks associating the complainant/victim and to inform him/her of the action taken in the matter."

-With inputs from IANS