Kids queue up at a vaccination centre. (Express Photo: Praveen Khanna)With the apex court on Monday stating that ‘vaccine cannot be forced on an individual’, the Chandigarh Administration may now be relooking at its orders of restricting unvaccinated children from attending physical classes from May 4.
The Supreme Court on Monday observed that no individual in the country could be forced to get vaccinated and conditions imposed by state governments and organisations restricting access of unvaccinated people to public places was “not proportional and should be recalled in the present prevailing conditions”.
In Chandigarh, the unvaccinated children will be restricted from attending physical classes from May 4.
Reacting to the orders of the Supreme Court, UT Adviser Dharam Pal said, “We will examine the orders of the Supreme Court and implement it.”
A senior officer stated that “in the orders they have just advised the students to get vaccinated and not mandated it”. “Moreover, advisory is also for the safety of the students. We could prevent the third wave because we were vaccinated,” the officer said.
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On Sunday, in a review meeting it was stated by the administration that the directives on unvaccinated children not being allowed to attend the physical classes be strictly followed. The review meeting was convened by Adviser Dharam Pal.
What the UT orders stated
“To protect the unvaccinated children from the possible Covid infection during the increasing trend, the Education Department to strictly follow the decision of restricting unvaccinated students in the age group of 12 years to 18 years from attending the classes in physical mode with effect from May 4, 2022. However, the unvaccinated students to be allowed to attend the exams/practical in physical mode, with COVID-appropriate behaviour,” it was specified.
May 15: Target of 100% vaccinated kids
The Chandigarh Administration has set a target of May 15 for 100 per cent vaccination of children in age group 12 to 18 years.
Vaccinated students within the 12 to 14 age group are still less. About CorBEvax vaccination of children, which is 12 years to 14 years, the target population is 45,000 and so far only 53 per cent children have been vaccinated with first dose and it includes only 07.50% who have taken second dose, the administration had said.
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