South Delhi civic body will not allow unvaccinated staff to attend offices

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority earlier this year made it mandatory for all state government employees to get at least one vaccine dose by October 15, failing which they would not be allowed to attend work

Amid prevailing global concerns around the Omicron variant of the coronavirus, the South Delhi Municipal Corporation on Friday said it will not allow unvaccinated employees to attend office in-person, the first such inoculation mandate among the city’s three civic bodies. The period of absence will be treated as leave, said the order issued by the corporation’s central establishment department.

A Covid-19 vaccination camp in Delhi. (Arvind Yadav/HT Photo)

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) earlier this year made it mandatory for all state government employees to get at least one vaccine dose by October 15, failing which they would not be allowed to attend work. To be sure, this mandate did not include employees of Delhi’s three municipal corporations.

A senior SDMC official from the municipal headquarters confirmed that staff members have been asked to deposit their vaccination certificates to their department heads.

“The deadline for all government officials to get vaccinated was earlier 15 October 2021 and a dedicated program is being run to counsel and encourage the remaining workers,” the official said requesting anonymity.

The circular has been sent to all deputy commissioners, zonal offices and head of the departments.

Data from the South civic body shows that around 88.2% of employees have taken at least one vaccine dose. Vaccination rates among sanitation workers are even higher, with 95% having been administered at least one shot. The south corporation has 41,459 employees out of which 36,601 (88.2%) have been vaccinated.

Over 94% of Delhi’s adult population of roughly 15 million has taken at least one Covid-19 vaccine shot, while around 62% has received both shots.

India has so far reported 26 Omicron cases, one of which was detected in Delhi last week.

The other two civic bodies, the north and east MCD, have not issued similar orders, officials from both the corporations confirmed. A senior EDMC official said that orders to encourage employees to get vaccinated were issued in October and that 94.68% of the body’s employees have taken at least one shot.

Leader of the SDMC House, Inderjeet Sehrawat, said doorstep inoculation drives will be held to cover the body’s unvaccinated staff members and address vaccine hesitancy.

“We will counsel them. There has been hesitancy among some people due to misinformation being spread about adverse reactions due to vaccine. There is no problem now related to slot availability or vaccine supply,” he added.

An internal report, a copy of which HT has seen, said that 84.18% workers (8,003 of 9,507) have been vaccinated in South zone; 88.34% vaccinated in the West zone (8,926 of 10,103); 85.18% vaccinated in Central zone (9,854 out of 10,379) and 85.33% workers have been vaccinated in Najafgarh zone.