Employees in the social assistance system will be tested at their own expense if they do not want to be vaccinated, without having contraindications from their family doctor, Labour and Social Protection Minister Raluca Turcan announced, quoted by Agerpres.
“We have proposed, as the Ministry of Labour, that staff employed in the social assistance system, whether public or private, should provide, if they interact with beneficiaries, proof of either vaccination, or proof of passing through the disease, or a contraindication from the family doctor. If they do not wish to be vaccinated, without a contraindication from their GP, then testing is carried out at the employee’s expense. It is a proposal that we have made with one rationale, and that is to protect the health of people in difficult circumstances. We are talking about children, disabled people and the elderly. Moreover, in the state system, the state pays social workers to support these people. It would be irresponsible of us if the very people who are paid by the state to look after the health of beneficiaries were the ones putting them at risk. We received comments from the Ministry of Justice that a bill would be needed and so we turned the Government Emergency Ordinance into a bill and here we have time constraints that we have to respect: a number of days in transparency so that it can then be adopted by the Government,” Turcan said.
Asked if she supported compulsory vaccination, the Labour Minister said there must be personal responsibility, as well as responsibility for others.
“I believe that people need to make the most of this huge asset we have, which is free access to vaccination at all times. If we don’t do this, we are not only endangering the lives of those who don’t access vaccination, but simply the lives of everyone around us. Look at the mutations that the virus has undergone, at the extent of wave 4 and I believe that everyone with responsibility for themselves and especially for those around them should access vaccination,” stressed the Minister.
Edited for English