According to the department, the Department of Health (DOH) has objected to the non-payment of employees and workers who have not yet been vaccinated against COVID-19, something that some offices are already doing even without a legal basis.
Last week, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) slammed the “inhumane” squeezing of some employers on the wages or salaries of staff who could not show a vaccination card that would prove complete protection against the deadly virus.
“Let me just reiterate to the public: Hindi po dapat maging basis ang pagbabakuna para mabigyan ng sweldo ‘yung mga nabigyan na ng trabaho para po sa kanilang mga work,” said Health Undersecretary Maria Rosario Vergeire.
“Unang-una, wala po tayong batas pa na nagsasaad na kailangang mandatory ang pagbabakuna. And that was verbalized by the Department of Justice.”
She said that all that is available now is to incentivize the public to encourage them to inject against COVID-19.
The Department of Labor and Employment and DOH had previously said the “no vaccine, no work” policy is illegal. However, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has once said the state has “police power” to do so as long as there is a law.
DOH opposes ‘no COVID-19 vaccine, no salary rule’
“So hopefully, hindi po ito maging basehan para magkaroon trayo ng mga issues na ganyan,” Vergeire added.
“I defer to the Department of Labor and Employment on the response for this.”
According to the latest government record, as many as 24.3 million have received complete doses of COVID-19 vaccines. The above is just part of the total 52.3 million doses already given in the Philippines.
Up to 2.72 million people have been infected with the disease so far, with 40,675 of them dying, the Department of Health said.
Meanwhile, only a small percentage of 12-17-year-olds vaccinated against COVID-19 experienced adverse side effects caused by injecting the drug, the Department of Health (DOH) shares today.
Of the 1,509 who received the COVID-19 vaccine in children with comorbidity on Friday, only four were reported to have received adverse events following immunization (AEFI).
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