Covid-19: Ahmedabad Corporation makes vaccine mandatory for city buses, tourist places, libraries, check details

In a decision taken opposite to the official stance of the state government, officials of Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) have announced that unvaccinated individuals will not be allowed to access public services. The civic body announced that residents won’t be able to access the public services and amenities without showing their vaccination certificates. The controversial announcement comes even as state’s Additional Chief Secretary, Health, Manoj Aggarwal in a statement had reiterated that Coronavirus vaccines are not “legally compulsory”, the Indian Express reported.

In a video statement, AMC’s Medical Officer, Health, Bhavin Solanki was quoted as saying that unvaccinated individuals will not be allowed entry into the civic body run bus services, tourist spots such as Kankaria Lake, Kankaria zoo, Sabarmati riverfront, libraries, sports complexes, gymkhanas, swimming pools among others. In the same video statement, the official also said that even those who have not taken the second dose of the vaccine and are eligible for the same will also not be allowed to access the services.

So far the state has been able to inoculate 5.58 crore vaccine doses of which 1.62 crore doses are the second doses. On the occasion of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s birthday on Friday, the state had set a target to administer 35 lakh doses but could only achieve about 60 percent of the target by administering about 22.5 lakh doses. Many cities had taken special measures to increase the vaccination footprint in the state on Friday including running vaccination centres well past midnight at few places to organising vaccination camps at public places like bus depot, railway stations and Bharatiya Janata Party offices.

In a similar manner, the AMC had also conducted the vaccination drive in the city at more than 650 sites administering 1.51 lakh doses on the day. The civic body had made a target to administer 2.75 lakh doses on Friday. However, despite falling short of achieving its targeted number, the state managed to put up the best ever vaccination tally on Friday, vaccinating a record 22.5 lakh doses. The previous record was achieved by the state on August 31 when it had administered a total of 8.95 lakh doses in a single day.