The city-state joins some Western jurisdictions that are shifting to workplace vaccine mandates, a trend that could spread into Asian countries as vaccination rates rise in the region.
“Only employees who are fully vaccinated or have recovered from Covid-19 within the past 270 days, can return to the workplace,” the government said in a statement today, adding that unvaccinated employees must show negative test results to access offices or factories and must pay for their own testing.
The de facto workplace vaccine mandate comes as the city-state grapples with Covid-19 infection spikes over the past weeks, despite over 80% of its population being fully vaccinated.
Around 3,000 new daily cases were reported around the period, putting medical services under pressure.
“We would like to seek the assistance of employers in encouraging their unvaccinated employees to get vaccinated as soon as possible,” said Trade and Industry Minister Gan Kim Yong, who co-chairs the government’s coronavirus task force.
He noted that about 96% of the country’s workforce is already fully vaccinated.
Currently, work-from-home remains the default option for most employers, as infection clusters have been detected in some workplaces.
To accelerate inoculations, Singapore also said it would include China’s Sinovac vaccine in its vaccination program, adding to shots from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna.
Workplace vaccine mandates are emerging in some parts of the world. For example, workers in Italy have been required to show vaccine proof or negative test results to return to workplaces from Oct 15.
In Asia, Malaysia’s government said last month that all federal civil service staff must get vaccinated, requiring unvaccinated workers to get jabs by Nov 1.
Aiming to “live with Covid”, Singapore already requires its people to be fully vaccinated to enter shopping malls and dine-in at restaurants. The new workplace rules will draw attention from its Asian peers, as the country is one of the most advanced in terms of progress in its vaccination program.
Meanwhile, Singapore also announced today some easing of border controls as the Covid-19 situation stabilises in South Asia and neighbouring Southeast Asian nations.
People traveling from India, Bangladesh and some other South Asian countries will be allowed to enter Singapore from next Wednesday, with a 10-day quarantine upon arrival.
South Asia is the biggest source of migrant workers for labour-intensive sectors in Singapore such as construction and shipbuilding.
Singapore will also allow travellers from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Cambodia to serve the 10-day quarantine on arrival at places such as their residences. People arriving from these countries currently have to stay at designated hotels during quarantine.