‘Such termination not considered wrongful dismissal’: 52,000 employees remain unvaccinated against Covid-19 in Singapore

Around 52,000 employees in Singapore have not taken any Covid-19 vaccine, the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said on Monday (Dec 27).

Around 6,700 are aged 60 and above, and are at a very high risk of severe illness or death from Covid-19 infection, it added.

It noted that only a small proportion of these workers are medically ineligible for vaccination, while 98 per cent of the workforce – excluding self-employed persons – have been inoculated.

As at Dec 19, 80 per cent of firms have attained full vaccine coverage for their workforce.

This is considerable progress, MOM said, as it marks a drop from the 75,000 employees who were not vaccinated as at Dec 5.

These updates come in the wake of the Ministry of Health’s announcement on Sunday that unvaccinated employees will not be allowed to return to the workplace from Jan 15 next year.

This rule stands even if they test negative for Covid-19 24 hours beforehand.

Those certified to be medically ineligible or have recovered from Covid-19 within 180 days can return.

Those who are partially inoculated can go to the workplace, but with a negative pre-event testing result up to Jan 31.

After Jan 31, they must be fully vaccinated.

From Jan 1, 50 per cent of employees who can work from home will be allowed to return to the office, MOH said on Dec 14.

Working from home has been the default since September, when Singapore began logging another rise in Covid-19 cases.

MOM said on Monday: “We have seen the emergence of the more transmissible Omicron variant, which with the Delta variant, significantly raises the chance of contracting Covid-19 compared to a year ago.

“Unvaccinated employees, especially those who are older, will put immense strain on our healthcare capacity in the coming months, if they contract Covid-19.”