Employers asked to do survey for vaccine acceptance among workers

By: Carla Gomez, Philippine Daily Inquirer, 19 Mar 2021

BACOLOD CITY—A union leader here reminded employers they should conduct a survey to find out if their workers were willing to get injected with coronavirus vaccines.

“This is to determine who among their employees will voluntarily subject themselves to the workplace vaccination program,” said Roland de la Cruz, president of the National Congress of Unions in the Sugar Industry of the Philippines (Nacusip).

Guidelines issued by the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) required employers to implement vaccination programs for their workers as part of occupational safety and health.

“The advisory requires that the vaccines should be free and voluntary for the employees,” De la Cruz said.

He said doing a survey “will make it easier for employers to determine the volume of vaccines to procure considering the cost and logistics needed to comply with this directive.”

The same DOLE guidelines prohibit discrimination or termination of workers who refused to be vaccinated and also prohibit the “no vaccine, no work” policy.