New Delhi, May 19 (TIWN) The Delhi High Court on Wednesday sought the Centre's response on a plea seeking to set aside the permission granted by the Drugs Controller General of India to Bharat Biotech for conducting the Phase 2/3 clinical trial of its Covaxin Covid-19 vaccine on the 2-18 age group.

A bench of Chief Justice D.N. Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh refused to pass any interim order staying the permission granted as it issued notice to the DCGI, the Ministry of Women and Child Development and others.  The plea, filed by advocate Sanjeev Kumar, argued that the children, who would part of the trials should not be termed as volunteers, as they cannot understand the nature of consequences for participating in the trial post their consent. The plea insisted that enrolling healthy children for the trial would amount to homicide.