Don't derail: Supreme Court refuses to hear plea against HPV vaccine campaign

The Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea challenging the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign for adolescent girls. The bench said compensation rules would apply in cases of incorrect vaccination and allowed the plea to be withdrawn.The Supreme Court said ordinary rules on compensation would apply in cases of incorrect vaccination. (Representative image)The Supreme Court on Thursday refused to entertain a petition that raised concerns over the government-run nationwide human papillomavirus, or HPV, vaccination campaign for adolescent girls to prevent cervical cancer. The court said ordinary rules on compensation would apply in cases of incorrect vaccination.A bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing a plea filed by the Universal Health Organisation, which challenged the manner in which the government-backed programme was being implemented. When the court declined to entertain the plea, the petitioner’s counsel withdrew it and the matter was dismissed as withdrawn.During the hearing, the bench asked, "Would you like to withdraw? Do you want us to comment on something?" It then said, "Don't ask us to make harsh observations. If petitioner members are doctors, it's a very, very serious issue. It's a question of the health of millions of our daughters. And you want to derail this."The top court orally said the plea had been filed with an ulterior motive and lacked bona fide. The lawyer for the petitioner said he was raising only the issue of adverse events and compensation, and not opposing the HPV vaccine itself."I am not at all anti-vaccine. My first contention is the way it is being implemented. Second, there is no adverse event mechanism. Whenever there is an adverse event, it must be monitored. There should also be a compensation scheme," the lawyer said. The plea had alleged that the implementation of the vaccination programme violated constitutional guarantees of informed consent, bodily autonomy, transparency and accountability.Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the nationwide HPV vaccination campaign for 14-year-old girls from Ajmer in Rajasthan on February 28. A single-dose Gardasil 4 vaccine, a quadrivalent HPV vaccine, is being used under the campaign. It protects against HPV types 16 and 18, which are responsible for cervical cancer, as well as types 6 and 11.In the end, the Supreme Court refused to examine the plea, said compensation rules would apply in cases of incorrect vaccination, and allowed the petitioner to withdraw it against the implementation of the HPV vaccination campaign.- EndsPublished By: India Today Web Desk Published On: Sep 10, 2026 12:41 IST