Teacher challenges COVID vaccine mandate in her school: Delhi High Court issues notice

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday issued notice on a plea by a school teacher challenging the circular which made Covid-19 vaccination mandatory for teachers and staff (Isha vs. State). .Justice Rekha Palli heard the matter and has given the school four weeks to respond. The petitioner will have two weeks thereafter to file her rejoinder. The High Court is already hearing a petition filed by a government-aided school challenging the Delhi government’s order to make vaccination mandatory for school teachers and staff. Both the cases will now be heard on February 3..In her petition, the teacher one Isha has informed the Court that she is a history teacher at Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Gautampuri which issued a circular stating that the teachers and staff members who are not vaccinated till October 15 will be treated as being on leave.The petition argued that she has a right to choice and till now there is no scientific data to show that the vaccination prevents transmission of the Coronavirus. The teacher said that she fears that the vaccine may have an adverse impact on her body and therefore she is not willing to subject her body to ‘external substances’. She added that she is willing to taking any precaution to stop the spread of the virus.“People have a choice to get vaccinated. It is absolutely voluntary and it is not a crime to not get vaccinated,” advocate Sanjay Ghose, appearing for the petitioner submitted..Appearing for the State, advocate Siddharth Krishna Dwivedi, however argued that by not getting vaccinated she is putting the lives of children at risk and since she has no co-morbidities, she should take the vaccine.As the court declined to provide any interim relief to the teacher, she said she will take the shot but it should not cause any prejudice to her current petition.