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SINGAPORE – When Covid-19 vaccines are rolled out starting next year for most Singapore residents, interior design firm Design 4 Space plans to take a trip to Japan to encourage its staff to get vaccinated.
Although the vaccination program here is voluntary, the company’s CEO Richard Yea is encouraging his more than 70 employees to get vaccinated.
“In this trade, we have to meet with homeowners frequently. If our staff are vaccinated, homeowners will feel more comfortable interacting with us,” he said, adding that the company’s trips abroad were previously reserved only for the best.
Medical experts, human resource professionals and trade associations approached by The Straits Times said that Singaporean employers are unlikely to apply the Covid-19 vaccine to their workforce.
But many will strongly encourage their staff to get vaccinated.
For some companies, this means offering incentives. It may include giving staff time off, as well as support for flexible work arrangements, said Ang Yuit, vice president of the Association of Small and Medium-sized Businesses (ASME).
However, he added: “It is unlikely that most companies will be too forceful in having their staff receive the vaccine unless there are some specific internal operational reasons.”
Singapore Business Federation Executive Director Ho Meng Kit agreed, saying that company management can lead by example and be the first to make decisions.
The first batch of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine arrived in Singapore on December 21, the first step in vaccinating the population.
The planned vaccination program is voluntary and free for all Singaporeans and long-term residents here, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had made clear on December 14.
Medical experts said employers do not need to pressure their staff to get vaccinated.
“At the moment, the number of cases in Singapore is very low, so there is no urgent need for vaccination to be mandatory,” said Associate Professor Hsu Li Yang, an infectious disease expert at the Saw School of Public Health. Swee Hock of the National University of Singapore. .
Dr. Leong Hoe Nam, an infectious disease specialist at Mount Elizabeth Novena Hospital, said the risk of infection is “extremely low in public.”
“It would be unfair to force people to trade low risk of infection with uncertainty about the long-term side effects of Covid-19 vaccines that have not yet been fully understood,” he added.
However, he said employees must still get vaccinated as the risk of doing so is low.
“Vaccination is putting up defenses against the virus. It is not only the role of the government, but everyone participates.
“It is as strong as everyone’s participation … It allows us to be individually safe and for the country to have herd immunity, and for the country to open up economically,” added Dr. Leong.
Singapore entered phase three of its reopening on Monday (December 28), with plans to relax some restrictions on the return of workers to the office.
Calvin Lim, general manager of CDPL (Tuas) Dormitory, said the company will follow the government’s directive on vaccines and allow staff to make their own decisions.
“But since our jobs have to be defined as front-line, we are likely to get the vaccine anyway,” he said. The firm has about 30 employees.
PeopleWorldwide Consulting CEO David Leong said employees have the right to raise concerns about potential risks if they have colleagues who choose not to get vaccinated. But companies should not prohibit those who do not receive vaccines from entering the office.
“Technically, the risk of exposure is low when safe distancing practices are observed. It is no different from the current reality,” he said.
Mr. David Calkins, regional managing director for Asia-Pacific and Middle East at global architecture firm Gensler, believes that most of the 54 employees in the Singapore office are open to getting vaccinated.
“We suspect that we will not have to provide much encouragement to those of us who are in customer-facing roles and those who hope to take a business trip in the future to receive the vaccine,” he said.
“But even as the vaccine becomes more available around the world, we anticipate continuing a flexible way of working for much of the next year,” he added.
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