As SA comes to grips with whether to make vaccines mandatory, governments around the world have been making Covid-19 shots compulsory for health workers and other high-risk groups.
South Africans are anticipating President Cyril Ramaphosa will either announce a vaccination mandate or the tightening of lockdown restrictions. Last week, the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) announced that it backed Covid-19 vaccination mandates at the workplace and restrictions to public gatherings for the unvaccinated, two business groups have pushed back against the proposals.
A growing number of countries are also making shots compulsory for public servants and other workers, pushed by a sharp upturn in infections caused by the Delta variant and a slowdown in vaccinations as well as the new Omicron variant.
Here are some countries' vaccine mandates, listed according to categories of people affected:
ALL ADULTS
AUSTRIA: All over 14-year-olds from February 2022; holdouts can be fined up to 3,600 euros every 3 months
GERMANY: Plans to make mandatory for all adults from February
INDONESIA: All adults, with fines or refusal of social assistance or government services for the unvaccinated.
MICRONESIA: All adults
TAJIKISTAN: All over 18-year-olds
TURKMENISTAN: All over 18-year-olds
GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTOR WORKERS
CANADA: All federally regulated workplaces from early 2022
COSTA RICA: All state workers
CROATIA: All public sector employees, citizens who need services in public institutions
CZECH REPUBLIC: Police officers, soldiers and some other professions from March
DENMARK: Workplaces allowed to require a digital "corona pass" for employees
EGYPT: Vaccination or weekly Covid-19 test required from public sector employees to work in government buildings
FIJI: Public servants, employees at private firms
FRANCE: Public officials or employees, including civil security pilots, flight personnel providing care for victims, soldiers permanently assigned to civil security missions, firefighters
GHANA: Targeted groups including all public sector and health workers from 22 January.
HUNGARY: Employees at state institutions
ITALY: All workers, school staff, police, military
LATVIA: Required for lawmakers to be able to vote and to receive full pay; businesses allowed to fire unvaccinated workers
LEBANON: All civil servants and workers in the education, tourism and public transport sectors from 10 January.
NEW ZEALAND: Workers of border, prison, police and defence force sectors; education sector by 1 January.
POLAND: Teachers, security personnel and uniformed services from 1 March, 2022
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RUSSIA: Workers with public-facing roles in Moscow;
SAUDI ARABIA: Public and private sector workers wishing to attend a workplace; people entering government, private, or educational establishments
TUNISIA: Officials, employees and visitors accessing public and private administrations
TURKEY: Some sectors including teachers and domestic travel employees
UKRAINE: Public sector employees including teachers; extension to medical personnel and municipal employees under consideration
UNITED STATES: All federal workers, contractors (temporarily blocked from enforcing nationwide), private sector workers in companies with 100 or more employees (temporarily blocked by federal appeals court), public-sector workers(contested in New York court)
HEALTH WORKERS
AUSTRALIA: High-risk aged-care workers, employees in quarantine hotels
BRITAIN: Care home staff in England, health workers in England by 1 April
CROATIA: Health and social care workers
CZECH REPUBLIC: Hospitals and nursing homes employees from March 2022
FINLAND: Plans to make vaccines mandatory for health and social care workers
FRANCE: Healthcare and care home workers, home aids and urgent care technicians; postponed for health workers in Martinique and Guadeloupe islands to Dec. 31 following protests
GERMANY: Workers of hospitals, doctor's offices and nursing homes by mid-March.
GREECE: Nursing home staff, healthcare workers
HUNGARY: Healthcare workers
LEBANON: Health sectors from 10 January.
NEW ZEALAND: Health and disability sector workers
POLAND: Health care workers from 1 March, 2022
OTHER WORKERS
Western Australia: Employees of mining, oil and gas exploration sectors by 1 January.
CHINA: Booster shot required in Beijing for key workers on construction sites, including cooks, security guards and cleaning personnel
PHILIPPINES: In-office workers and employees in public transportation services
KAZAKHSTAN: Mandatory vaccinations or weekly testing for people working in groups of more than 20
CHILDREN
COSTA RICA: Over 5-year-olds.
LITHUANIA: Over 16-year-olds, considering for over 12-year-olds.
ELDERLY
CZECH REPUBLIC: Over 60-year-olds from March
GREECE: Over 60-year-olds
MALAYSIA: Over 60-year-olds and all adult recipients of the Sinovac vaccine required to get a booster dose by February.
RUSSIA: Over 60-year-olds and chronically ill in St. Petersburg
ENTRY TO PUBLIC VENUES
AUSTRIA: Public places including restaurants, hotels, theatres and ski lifts
BRITAIN: Vaccination or negative test for all over-18-year-olds at night clubs and other venues in Scotland; at nightclubs, some indoor and outdoor unseated venues and all venues with more than 10,000 people in England
BULGARIA: "Health pass" for visitors of public venues such as cafes, hotels, concert halls, museums and swimming pools
CZECH REPUBLIC: Vaccination certificates or testing status required at restaurants and clubs
DENMARK: Health pass required for entry to indoor bars, restaurants and other public places
EGYPT: Vaccination mandatory for public university students to access campuses
FRANCE: Health pass required for restaurants, cafes, cinemas and museums, other public venues. Booster shots will be required for a valid health pass
GERMANY's: Vaccination required for all but the most essential businesses such as grocery stores, pharmacies and bakeries
ITALY: Vaccination required for indoor seating at bars, restaurants, visiting museums, cinemas, clubs, attending sporting events; basic green health pass obligatory for all public transport
KENYA: Court temporarily halted vaccination requirement by 21 December to access public services including schools, transport services, immigration and other state offices, hotels, bars, restaurants, national parks, wildlife reserves
LEBANON: Vaccine certificate or antibody tests required for entry to restaurants, cafes, pubs and beaches
MOROCCO: Vaccine required for access to all government buildings, spaces such as cafes, restaurants, cinemas, gyms, transportation
NETHERLANDS: Health pass mandatory to enter bars, restaurants, clubs or cultural events
ROMANIA: Health pass, negative Covid-19 test or proof of recovery mandatory for entry to most public venues including majority of non-essential ones
SERBIA: Health pass mandatory to visit indoor cafes, hotels and restaurants after 22:00.
SINGAPORE: Vaccination necessary to enter shopping malls; considers requiring a booster shot to qualify as fully vaccinated
SWITZERLAND: Proof of vaccination, recovery or a negative test required to access bars, restaurants and fitness centres
SOUTH KOREA: Vaccine pass mandatory to access 14 designated public spaces, including hospitality and entertainment venues; requirement extended to over 12-year-olds from February
SWEDEN: Vaccine passes required for indoor events with more than 100 people; to be extended to smaller gatherings, such as in restaurants.
UKRAINE: Restrictions for unvaccinated on access to restaurants, sports and other public events
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