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SC dismisses petitions against vaccination mandate gazette

30 Mar 2022

  • Necessary arrangements being expedited for enforcing Gazette: Health Ministry
The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday (30) refused to grant leave to proceed with the petitions filed against the Gazette Notification prohibiting people who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering public places. The petitions were dismissed by the majority decision of the five-judge bench of the SC. Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, State Ministers Dr. Sudarshini Fernandopulle and Prof. Channa Jayasumana, Director General of Health Services (DGHS) Dr. Asela Gunawardena, the Inspector General of Police, and six others had been named as the respondents of these petitions. The petitions, filed by a group of individuals including Dr. Danister de Silva and Prof. F.M. Jalathilake, were called before SC Judges Priyantha Jayawardena, Preethi Padman Surasena, Gamini Amarasekara, Kumidini Wickremesinghe, and Shiran Gunaratne. Following a lengthy trial, the judge bench concluded that it refuses to grant leave to the petitions challenging the said Gazette Notification. In February, the Minister of Health issued a Gazette Extraordinary to prohibit people who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 from entering public places, and thereby made proof of vaccination mandatory effective after 30 April 2022 for visiting public places. The relevant Gazette issued by Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella noted: “A person shall not enter any public place without having the proof of being fully vaccinated against the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) unless exempted by the proper authority in respect of the whole of Sri Lanka.” “For the purposes of this regulation, ‘fully vaccinated’ means that the relevant person has obtained the required doses of the relevant vaccination as specified by the DGHS,” it added. The Gazette Notification has defined a public place as “any place or mode of transportation used in public transport to which the public have access, whether as of right or otherwise, whether on payment or not, whether on invitation or not”. Meanwhile, an individual who has obtained the required doses of the relevant vaccination as specified by the DGHS will be considered a fully vaccinated person. The Gazette Notification also noted that this mandate is not applied to people who are not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 due to exceptional circumstances and those who are not in the age groups eligible to receive the vaccines. Meanwhile, the Health Ministry told The Morning on Tuesday (29) that necessary arrangements are being expeditiously made in order to enforce the Extraordinary Gazette preventing those eligible but not vaccinated and those not fully vaccinated (three doses) from entering or being in public places, with effect from 1 May 2022. Speaking to The Morning, Health Ministry Communications Director, Public Health Services Deputy Director General, and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division Head Dr. Hemantha Herath said: “The relevant sections of the ministry are currently working on the implementation of this Gazette Notification. It is hoped that it would be able to be implemented from 1 May.” He said that since the implementation of such a programme could not be done in an ad-hoc manner, all the relevant work should be completed before it is implemented. He also said that the DGHS will make the relevant announcement in the coming days in this regard. Meanwhile, when contacted by The Morning last month, to query as to who would be monitoring if those entering public places have obtained all three doses of the Covid-19 vaccines, Health Ministry Medical Technology Services Director and Co-ordinator in Charge of the Covid-19 Operations Dr. Anver Hamdani said that it would be monitored by the Police and security officials at the respective premises. “We can’t have police officers at all the places to check if the people have obtained the vaccines. If it is a premise such as a bus stand, the police officers will be checking if the people have obtained the vaccines. However, at places such as shopping malls, the security officers there should check if those entering their premises have been vaccinated.” He further said that the public and private sector institutions would be given necessary instructions in this regard in the future. When queried as to what action would be taken regarding those who cannot obtain the vaccines for health-related reasons, Dr. Hamdani said that such individuals would be given a separate recognition. Further noting that the vaccination cards would be considered as proof when this decision would be implemented, he said that the introduction of digitalised proof was also being considered. However, he said that the introduction of such a system may take a bit more time as there is a technical process to be followed. He also said that what the health authorities consider as a fully vaccinated person is someone who has obtained the first and second doses and booster third dose of the Covid-19 vaccines.  


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