Local organizations should expect to receive more specific Covid-19 guidelines for each activity sector or profession from the relevant government entities in coming days, Dr. Leong Iek Hou, coordinator of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, said during yesterday’s briefing from local health authorities.
Leong was addressing the many questions from the media brought up earlier this week when the authorities announced that they would implement a new infection prevention measure requiring workers to either be vaccinated against Covid-19 or undergo frequent nucleic acid tests (NAT).
Leong clarified yesterday that individual entities should not create their own rules on the matter. Instead, the supervising government entity or department would issue guidelines appropriate for each case, she said.
“For example, for schools, the supervisory entity is the Education and Youth Development Bureau and, according to our [Health Bureau’s] general guidelines, the bureau will adjust them [for] schools,” Leong stated, noting that the same would occur in most cases.
“Most private entities also have supervisory entities, and they are studying the details to issue guidelines to each company. In the upcoming days, I believe that many public services and supervisory entities will issue their guidelines according to the sector,” Leong remarked.
She explained that this measure is aimed at all workers who have direct contact with the public and who work in closed indoor spaces. She reaffirmed the main principle that “they need to be inoculated, but they can choose not to by replacing the vaccine requirement with a NAT every seven days,” she said, referring to the guidelines issued by the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau (SAFP), which apply to civil servants.
Exemption
certificate process
Questioned on how people might obtain proof that they cannot be vaccinated and therefore access NATs free of charge, Leong explained that people need to book an appointment for vaccination and attend as scheduled. At the appointment they will be subject to initial evaluation by a physician, who is the only authority able to decide that someone is not able to get the vaccine. In this situation, a certificate would be issued to certify that decision, she said, noting that this is process is common in other situations.
Things are slightly different in the case of pregnant women. If they are civil servants this task will be facilitated without the need for their involvement. The SAFP will create a list of all pregnant staff members and issue their certificates automatically.
Those working in the private sector will need to request it during their periodic health appointments related to their pregnancy.
For mothers who are breastfeeding, Leong said there is no such problem. Data available states that breastfeeding mothers can receive an mRNA vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) and continue to breastfeed without any risk.
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