The High Court of Karnataka on Thursday asked the State government and its agencies to create awareness and persuade people from vulnerable sections of society to take COVID-19 vaccines.
The court directed the government to submit data of special drives to vaccinate health workers, frontline workers and persons belonging to other priority groups, including differently-abled persons.
The court emphasised the importance of vaccinating the immediate family members of healthcare workers (HCW), frontline workers (FLW) and other priority groups (PGs).
A special division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar passed the order while hearing PIL petitions, through which the bench is monitoring steps taken by authorities to address issues cropping up due to the second wave of COVID-19.
Earlier, advocate Vikram Huilgol, who has been assisting the court as amicus curiae, had pointed out the need to identify and persuade persons belonging to FLW and PG categories as many of them belong to vulnerable sections of society and live in slums.
Noticing that the government has already decided to vaccinate persons belonging to these groups, he emphasised that eligible persons from these groups are given information on their eligibility for vaccination and persuade them take vaccine at the earliest.
The bench said that authorities can take the help of NGOs to reach out to vulnerable sections for vaccinating them.
While directing the government to include the disability certificate issued to differently-abled persons as per the law as a valid document for registration to get a vaccine, the court asked the government to submit data of such certificates issued in Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi, Bidar and Chamarajanagar districts.
