No one will be forced to vaccinate, assures Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has given assurance that no South African will be forced to take the Covid-19 vaccine.

Ramaphosa clarified this while answering questions from MPs in a hybrid sitting of the House on Friday.

He said that forcing people to take the vaccine was not an option.

The question comes after health insurer Discovery said on Thursday that it “intends to move to a mandatory vaccination policy” for its employees, effective January 1, 2022.

Ramaphosa said that the Department of Employment and Labour had issued directives to companies on the vaccination programme for workers.

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However, Discovery had justified its decision saying it was a “clear moral and social obligation, as informed by our core purpose to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives; and by our values, particularly, acting as a force for social good; and supported by a legal obligation to protect and safeguard all employees from all potential risks”.

Ramaphosa said that in ensuring that the rights of citizens were upheld, “there are various steps that we need to take.”

“This is precisely what we are saying to various companies that should you encounter a situation where certain workers don’t want to be vaccinated there are various steps that you need to take in respect of their rights, but also dealing with them in a humane manner hoping they will be encouraged in the end to be vaccinated so that they can save the lives of their own families and the lives of their co-workers,” said Ramaphosa.

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“Our health services would be overrun and we have seen that when we had spikes due to infections. The directives issued by the Department of Employment and Labour take into account a number of conditionalities or set out a number of conditionalities, and these are very much in line with our Constitutional architecture that we have got to respect the rights of others.”