The 13 groups of entrepreneurs are determined to allow them to restrict their unvaccinated staff and customers to reopen the business safely.
Aside from restricting the requirements of unvaccinated employees and customers, they also want to reject non-vaccinated applicants who apply for their jobs even though there is a shortage of vaccines arriving in the country.
According to the group, they believe everyone has the right to decide whether to get vaccinated or not. Still, they also think the government and the private sector should limit movement for the benefit of all.
“We believe the state should help companies reopen safely to protect and create jobs by allowing them to impose stricter requirements on unvaccinated employees and patrons and to decline unvaccinated job applicants, in the interest of health and safety of both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated,” said the joint statement of the Bankers Association of the Philippines, Cebu Business Club, Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines, GoNegos¬yo, Investment Houses of the Philippines, Makati Business Club, Philippine Business for Education, Philippine Ecozones Association, Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants, Philippine Retailers Association, Subdivision and Housing Developers Association, US-ASEAN Business Council and WOmenBizPH.
They also said that the government should consider tightening the requirements for their unvaccinated personnel.
13 businesses push for no vaccine, no work policy
They said the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) needs to review its advisory on the vaccine and the government on the COVID19 Vaccine Procurement Act (Section 12-G).
They encourage companies to do everything possible to have the opportunity to vaccinate their staff and to accommodate those who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons. Hence, people’s health is not to be compromised.
They also called on the government to speed up the vaccination of many.
It will take longer before the Philippines achieves the target of vaccinating 70% of the population. Instead of this year, the government said it could complete it in February 2022, a few months before the 2022 elections.
Vaccine czar Carlito Galvez told President Rodrigo Duterte that half of the Philippine population would be vaccinated by 2021. Up to 160 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines will come this year.
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