Compulsory COVID-19 Vaccination for Domestic Workers: A Decision for RWAs to take?

The Residents Welfare Associations (RWAs) insist that all domestic workers employed in the societies must be compulsory vaccinated, to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The domestic workers, however, take the argument of being protected under the right to religious freedom and with absence of any law advocating mandatory vaccination for all, the RWAs’ rule is arbitrary and discriminatory. The article examines the issue of whether the RWAs can make compulsory vaccination a precondition for employment. It assesses the legal position and confirms that both the Central and State governments have the constitutional power to legislate a similar law. However, as physical enforcement of such a law will be a challenge, the governments will have to attach incentives or soft penalties for 100% enforcement. The article concludes that the government may in future have a law for compulsory vaccination for COVID-19, as we had done in the past for smallpox, but till there is such a law in place, the domestic workers are well within their rights to object to RWAs’ directives of asking to compulsory vaccinate.