BENGALURU: While the Karnataka government has made it mandatory for employees of hotels, malls, government offices, swimming pools etc to have a double vax certificate, the Technical Advisory Committee has recommended making it mandatory for even the public.
Following the Gujarat model, the TAC has said the state needs to have a vaccine mandate for access to public facilities. "In Gujarat, for the first time in nearly four months, the daily COVID-19 count crossed the 40-mark in the second week of November, and no fatality was reported. As a precaution, Gujarat recently restricted unvaccinated people from using public facilities. All those above 18 years of age must carry a COVID-19 vaccination certificate or an e-copy, for checks at the entry to public facilities. We have to do a similar thing if we need to prevent illness and deaths," said an expert who was part of the recent TAC meeting.
Experts say that with an increase in clusters and scare of the Omicron variant, it is wise to be "armed with both doses of vaccination" to at least prevent severity of the illness.
Dr Jagadish Hiremath, Chairman, Aasra Hospital, said, "Vaccine breakthrough cases are less severe compared to those who are not vaccinated. With just 57 per cent of the state's population having received the second dose, the situation might take a worse direction if the new variant enters the state."
The coverage for the first dose is about 90 pwer cent. Demand for vaccination is also slowing down. TAC experts said to contain the pandemic, the state government must strictly bring in the two-dose vaccination rule for use of public facilities.
NO ENTRY HERE WITHOUT VACCINE?
Public buses, Metro
Swimming pools
Pubs and bars
Hotels, lodges
Cinema halls, auditoria
Shopping complexes, malls
Libraries
Zoos and biological parks
Exhibitions