Hyderabad: The Telangana high court on Wednesday ordered the state to vaccinate all teaching and non-teaching staff within two months and warned of consequences if the state failed do so.
“All government schools and some private institutions have commenced physical classes, as per your own details, yet vaccination has not been administered to all the 4.93 lakh teaching and non-teaching staff. There is an impending need to vaccinate the remaining staff. As children interact with them, there is a possibility that they would get affected. Though children are asymptomatic, they will be carriers to their houses, which may lead to community spread. Hence, this court wants completion of the vaccination process to teaching and non-teaching staff within two months”, the court ordered.
The bench directed the government to ramp up RT-PCR testing as there has been a steep decline in the tests.
The order was passed by a division bench of acting Chief Justice M. S. Ramachandra and Justice T. Vinod Kumar, while dealing with PILs relating to COVID-19 management in the state.
The director of public health, Dr. G Srinivas Rao, informed the court that 96% of teaching and non teaching staff have been vaccinated so far under the government’s special vaccination drives including students above 18 years of age. He also added that only 71 asymptomatic cases have been identified from a sample of 2 lakh collected for tests.
According to Dr Srinivas Rao, 95% of the GHMC population has been vaccinated. Among 2.08 lakh who have been given their first dose, 22% of the people are yet to take their second shot.
The court further directed the state to vaccinate the entire state population within the next three months.