Uninoculated Singapore Office Workers Could Get Fired
SINGAPORE – As new curbs on office access take effect, workers in the city-state who are not vaccinated against COVID-19 could get terminated from their work, reported Bloomberg on Saturday (15 January, SGT)
Starting on 15 January 2022, a previous concession that permitted unvaccinated staff who test negative to go to their office will be withdrawn, stated Singapore’s government. Employers can redeploy uninoculated employees to jobs that can be performed from home, put them on no-pay leave, or let them go if they can’t perform their work remotely as a last resort.
Singapore’s inoculation rate is among the highest in the world. About 88 percent of its overall population have been completely vaccinated and 51 percent have taken booster shots.
On the other hand, unvaccinated people in the city-state face restrictions. For example, they are not allowed in restaurants and shopping centres to prevent them from over-burdening the country’s healthcare system.
“If you think about it, if all the 48,000 were infected with Covid-19, it would indeed impact on our healthcare system,” said Rahayu Mahzam, the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) parliamentary secretary. She is referring to the number of employees who had not taken any vaccine dose as of 2 January who account for merely 2 percent of the overall workforce.
During a parliamentary session on 10 January, Rahayu explained that a fully inoculated workforce would be able to work more safely. In fact, throughout the pandemic, about 66 percent of beds in intensive care units (ICU) are occupied by individuals who are not vaccinated.
At the same time, Singapore has stuck to its plan of gradual reopening, allowing up to 50 percent of a company’s staff who can work from home to return to their workplace.
Meanwhile, the law of other nations prevents the government from introducing a similar move like Singapore’s. For instance, the US Supreme Court blocked President Joe Biden’s attempt to require that all workers get vaccinated or undergo weekly tests. Nonetheless, financial firms like JPMorgan and Citigroup now oblige their staff to take the jab.
