Belgian bill mandates shots in health sector

COVID-19 case spike makes hospitals wary

BRUSSELS — Health workers in Belgium who don’t want to get vaccinated against COVID-19 will face losing their jobs.

Amid a surge of coronavirus cases that has led hospitals in Belgium to reserve half of their 2,000 ICU beds for COVID-19 patients, Belgium’s federal government finalized a draft bill late Monday to make vaccinations mandatory for health care workers.

Starting Jan 1, the workers have a three-month window to get their shots. During that period, those who remain unvaccinated will be notified of a suspension of their contract unless they can provide a certificate of recovery from COVID-19 or negative tests on a regular basis, and will be temporarily unemployed. From April, workers without a proper justification for their refusal could be dismissed.

According to estimates, some 60,000 health workers across the country of 11.5 million people are not vaccinated against COVID-19.

Alda Dalla Valle, vice president of the nurses’ federation, said the planned sanctions could have damaging consequences for the country’s health system.

The draft bill needs to be approved by the Council of State and the Parliament.

The move could pave the way for mandatory vaccinations across other sectors amid growing political support for such a measure, although Prime Minister Alexander De Croo said he is opposed.

“It looks simple, but in practice I can’t see how one can implement it,” De Croo said. “I can’t see any other European country doing this. I believe it’s better to try and convince people to get vaccinated.”

Coronavirus infections and deaths are rising in Belgium. De Croo is expected to announce new restrictive measures Wednesday to stop the uptick of new infections and hospital admissions.

In other developments:

■ Slovakia is planning new restrictions on unvaccinated people in an effort to tame the latest surge of coronavirus infections that has caused a “critical” situation in the country’s hospitals, the prime minister said Tuesday. Prime Minister Eduard Heger said his government will vote Thursday on the latest proposals by an advisory group of medical experts that will be effective for three weeks.

■ South Korea on Wednesday reported 3,187 new cases of the coronavirus, nearly matching a one-day record set in September, a worrisome development in a country that eased social distancing rules in recent weeks to lessen the pandemic’s economic impact.

■ Russia said Tuesday that it will resume allowing air travel to Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Costa Rica and Mongolia starting Dec. 1. The government coronavirus task force said Russia will also lift the remaining restrictions on flights to Cuba, Mexico and Qatar, and increase the number of flights to Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Vietnam as of Dec. 1.