No COVID-19 jab, no job? Nograles says vaccination not mandatory

The government will not force people to take the coronavirus vaccine, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles asserted Thursday after the labor department opposed the imposition of a “no vaccine, no work” policy.

Nograles maintained that the COVID-19 vaccination will not be made mandatory, but said the government encourages people to get inoculated to enhance their protection against the coronavirus disease.

“The President has always (said) na hindi tayo ipipilit itong vaccines sa ating mga kababayan. Walang pilitan 'yan (we will not force the vaccines on our countrymen. It won't be compulsory),” Nograles said during a televised press briefing Thursday, March 4.

“Walang pilitan para kay Pangulong Duterte although talagang ine-encourage niya at encourage ng buong gobyerno ang lahat ng kababayan na kayo na rin susunod, kahit nasa line na magpapabakunahan, tanggapin natin ito ng buong loob at walang pag-aalinlangan (For President Duterte, it

should not be mandatory although he encourages, the entire government encourages all our countrymen to openly accept the vaccines without doubts once they are next in line for vaccination),” he said.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III had earlier announced that employees may refuse to take the vaccine without the risk of losing their jobs. Bello insisted that vaccination cannot be compulsory in the workplace. He warned businesses against imposing a “no vaccine, no work” requirement, saying there was no legal basis for such policy.

The government has vaccinated over 9,000 people, mostly health professionals, since the immunization started Monday, March 1. The vaccination was carried out a day after the country received its first batch of life-saving vaccines from China. Around 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines, donated by China, arrived in Manila last Sunday.

The country is expected to receive another vaccine supply Thursday, this time more than 400,000 AstraZeneca doses through the World Health Organization's COVAX facility. President Duterte is set to personally welcome the vaccine arrival at the airport.

Nograles, also co-chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said they expect public confidence in the vaccines to further improve as the more vaccinations take place in government and private hospitals across the country. He noted the demand for Sinovac vaccines among health workers has already increased in recent days.

So far, Nograles said the government's vaccine rollout has been safe and smooth. There has been no fatal adverse effect reported from the vaccine recipients, he added.

Earlier, Senator Joel Villanueva warned against discriminating workers who opt out from vaccination programs implemented by their employers.

“Instead of forcing workers to be inoculated, confidence building efforts should be carried out in the company, instead of threats of termination from employment, Villanueva, chairman of the Senate labor committee, said before Nograles announced that vaccination is not mandatory.

Villanueva was reacting to reports on “no vaccination, no work policy” and appealed to the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to immediately issue clear guidelines on the matter to ensure that both workers and employers stand on a level playing field.

“A worker can be late for work and be penalized with salary deduction. But a government guilty of vaccine tardiness faces no such reprimand, even it causes the nation P2.8 billion in economic losses daily,” Villanueva said.

“A worker who is not yet immune from virus shouldn't lose his immunity from being fired arbitrarily,” he added. “The biggest challenge at the moment for the labor-employer-government tripartite is not just to give more workers better vaccines but also to increase vaccine confidence,” Villanueva added.

“Sa pagbabakuna (in vaccination), the best pa rin po ang ‘Sana All (the best is “should be all).’ We cannot have a workforce divided between the ‘Jabbed’ and the ‘Jabbed Nots’,” he said. The lawmaker reiterated that workers should not be faulted for refusing to be inoculated if they have concerns on the vaccine that would be used on them. (With a report from Mario B. Casayuran)