State employees will have to decide between getting vaccinated or being put on unpaid leave
PM Viktor Orbán said in his regular Friday morning interview that until everyone is inoculated the virus will keep lingering. He added that while less than one percent of those who are vaccinated fall ill with Covid, those who have not received the jab were ten times more at risk. Although those who are vaccinated can also contract the virus, “far fewer of them” end up seriously ill than those who are unvaccinated, the prime minister said.
He said protective measures like mask mandates were effective in slowing the spread of the virus but did not guarantee full protection. “So we mustn’t be under the illusion that we are protected if we go into lockdown, self-isolate and wear a mask. That doesn’t protect us, only the vaccine does,” Orbán said.
He said protective measures like mask mandates were effective in slowing the spread of the virus but did not guarantee full protection. “So we mustn’t be under the illusion that we are protected if we go into lockdown, self-isolate and wear a mask. That doesn’t protect us, only the vaccine does,” Orbán said.
The prime minister said Hungary will have 15 million coronavirus vaccine doses delivered by the end of the year.
Concerning the new protective measures introduced from Nov. 1, Orban said the reason the government had got employers involved in the defence against the pandemic was because the virus was spreading faster in some parts of the country than others. Employers have therefore been given the right to order their employees to get vaccinated and put those who do not comply on unpaid leave, he noted, acknowledging that “this is a controversial measure”. Orban added, at the same time, that though Hungarians would not have accepted a blanket vaccine mandate, they accepted such a decision being taken by the workplace community.
Workers employed by state institutions who come into contact with a lot of people but refuse to get vaccinated will be put on unpaid leave with immediate effect.
Eventually all state employees will have to decide between getting vaccinated or being put on unpaid leave, he added.
Read alsoObligatory vaccination in Hungary soon? Here is what PM Orbán said
Source: MTI
We have right to expect state employees to act responsibly.