The National Vaccination Commission published today on the portal of the Ministry of Health the news below where it is stated that vaccination against COVID-19 will be mandatory for all public employees as well as for those employees of the private sector whose employer has included vaccination as mandatory in the workplace. This provision will be detailed in an executive decree of the Ministry of Health, which as soon as it is published we will be informing you.
Vaccination Commission approves mandatory COVID-19 immunization for public servants and empowers private employers to establish it
September 28, 2021. The National Vaccination and Epidemiology Commission approved the mandatory vaccination against Covid-19 for all public sector employees, as well as for those employees in the private sector whose employers, within their internal labor regulations, have opted to incorporate such vaccination as mandatory in their workplaces.
The Commission made the decision based on epidemiological variables such as the number of covid-19 cases, the mortality rate of the disease, the increased circulation of the Delta variant and the high hospital occupancy, impacted to a greater by unvaccinated patients, as well as the slowdown in the influx of people to vaccinatories to receive their first dose. In addition to these factors, there is the importance of making public and private workplaces safer places and the need to reduce the possibility of interruption of services and work due to possible contagion.
Last February, the Commission endorsed the obligatory nature for employees of the Ministry of Health, the Caja Costarricense de Seguro Social (social security), the Costa Rican Red Cross and those working in the network of direct care services in the first line of the National Insurance Institute.
As in said cases, for the rest of the public entities that the obligation is extended, it will be the responsibility of the employer to take the corresponding measures in accordance with the country’s legislation and institutional regulations, in the case of workers who do not want to be vaccinated against covid-19.
The decree making official the mandatory vaccination against covid-19 will be issued and signed in the next few days.