Indian Government: No forced jabs, vaccine certificate not a must
In this January 17, 2022 article for The Indian Express, Ananthakrishnan G reports that the Indian government told the Supreme Court that it has not issued any guideline that could cause vaccination without consent, nor has it made vaccination certificate mandatory for any purpose.
The government says: “vaccination for COVID-19 is of larger public interest in view of the ongoing pandemic situation…it is duly advised, advertised and communicated through various print and social media platforms that all citizens should get vaccinated and systems and processes have been designed to facilitate the same. However, no person can be forced to be vaccinated against their wishes”.
Editor’s Note: We add this article for several reasons. First, this article remains relevant because as of May 7, 2022, the Indian government stands by its decision to not make the COVID shots mandatory. Despite this, however, some educational institutions in India have made it their duty to force their students to take the vaccine before they are allowed back in school.1https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/vaccines-should-be-accessible-but-not-mandatory-7306250/ How is it possible that private institutions are overruling government policy? Why does the Indian government allow it?
Second, because the COVID shot is deemed as “voluntary” by the Indian government, there is no provision for compensation. This is unusual as most vaccine manufacturers have required indemnification [see Big Pharma firm will not be held responsible for side effects of COVID-19 vaccine, Pfizer Controls Health Policy of 110 Countries, CCH Challenges the Duterte Government to Make Public Its Contract with Pfizer].
How is India able to do this? Why couldn’t other countries ignore Big Pharma’s demand for vaccine indemnity? [See Pfizer drops India vaccine application after regulator seeks local trial. Also, read India and Pfizer at Impasse Over COVID Vaccine Indemnity Demand].
Lastly, the fact that India continues to stand for no mandatory vaccination without COVID wiping out its population means that other countries making COVID shots mandatory did not make the decision based on science. Unlike other countries that have much higher vaccine uptake, the WHO now considers COVID to be endemic in India [see WHO representative says COVID is now endemic in India].
This is important for us in the legal challenge we have launched against the Philippine policy which forces employees to take the vaccines [Read PETITION TO STOP MANDATORY VACCINATIONS FILED AT THE SUPREME COURT].
India and the Philippines’ vaccination rate is almost the same. Our COVID cases and deaths have also been consistently dropping. We think that it is now time to repeal the IATF Resolution 148-B.2https://ulap.net.ph/ulap-news/advisories/630-iatf-res-148b-2021.html
Read Original Article
Read Online
Click the button below if you wish to read the article on the website where it was originally published.
Read Offline
Click the button below if you wish to read the article offline.
