KOCHI: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday came to the rescue of a 73-year-old man and his wife, who could not fly abroad due to errors in their vaccination certificates. The HC directed the central government to see that a corrected vaccine certificate is issued to the petitioners within three weeks.
Justice P V Kunhikrishnan passed the directive on a petition filed by K P John of Auva and his wife P Saly seeking a directive to provide a corrected final vaccination certificate so that the couple is able to visit their children working abroad, at the earliest.
The court, earlier on September 23 had issued an order directing the District Medical Officer, Ernakulam to conduct an inquiry on how incorrect dates and venues got printed on the vaccine certificate of the petitioners. The DMO produced an inquiry report and admitted that there were some mistakes and they can be corrected. The state government is making all efforts to see that a corrected vaccination certificate is issued to the petitioners. The government pleader produced an email received from the director-general of health services, New Delhi in which it was stated that a one-time correction is possible for which they have steps have been initiated already. But the actual correction will be done by the central team.
The counsel for the petitioner submitted that the corrected certificate is not yet uploaded in the portal. The petitioners are waiting for it as they want to go abroad to see their children. The petitioner stated that he had received the first dose in March and the second in April from a vaccination centre in Aluva. When the vaccination certificate was released in July, it showed that the second dose was administered in July from a vaccination centre in Ernakulam.