Government: those that refuse to get vaccinated can be forced to take unpaid leave

Gergely Gulyás, the prime minister’s chief of staff, said today that all epidemic projections show that during the fourth wave the number of infections could jump significantly and the number of patients who need hospitalisation or ventilator care could also increase, so the situation requires the introduction of new measures.

The number of infections is lower in countries with higher vaccination rate and “the lower the vaccination rate, the more tragic the situation becomes” Gulyás said. Hungary is among the best in the region but still below the EU average, he added. The cabinet has consulted with experts and made its decision at the proposal of the operative board in charge of pandemic management, he said. Giving employers the right to require vaccination has been recommended by employers’ associations, he added.

Compared to vaccination, the effectiveness of all other forms of protection is only secondary, which is why every measure that can boost the vaccination rate is important, he said. Meanwhile, on the topic of migration, Gulyás also said Hungary will send a letter to the European Commission asking it to cover at least part of the costs of the country’s border fence.

Migration pressure on Europe’s borders is growing and is expected to keep increasing,

he said.

Breaking – mandatory mask-wearing on public transport, employers given right to require vaccination

“It would be nice if the European Commission switched from supporting migration to supporting the protection of external borders, because if we don’t want Europe to be destabilised during the pandemic and the economic recovery then we need effective border protection, which requires proper European approval,” he said.

The pressure of migration is growing as a result of the situation in Afghanistan and events at the Belarus border, he said. The number of illegal border crossing attempts is currently a daily average of 319 as against 97 in the same period of last year, he added.

A debate on handling migration is again under way in Europe, and for the time being

“the European Commission is unfortunately on the side of migration”,

he said. The commissioner for home affairs recently said that post-pandemic recovery was only possible with the involvement of migrants and migrant organisations, he added.

Gulyás said the EC was unable to grasp “the right answer” to the problem, but a growing number of people, he added, were starting to realise it. He cited European People’s Party group leader Manfred Weber who, Gulyas said, had clearly voiced support for the construction of physical borders and called on the EU to contribute to border protection.

In response to a question on making vaccination mandatory, he said the measure applied to getting two shots, and exceptions in medically justified cases would be given in line with the rules already in force in health care.