Virus-Battered South Africa Readies Mandatory Vaccine Policy
- Omicron variant driving new wave of coronavirus infections
- Union leaders join business groups in backing compulsory shots
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South Africa, which is contending with a massive upsurge in coronavirus infections following the onset of the omicron variant, is readying a mandatory vaccine policy and is set to implement it early next year, a senior labor union official said.
Broad agreement has been reached on the policy in the National Economic Development and Labor Council, a negotiating forum, although some details have yet to be ironed out. The Congress of South African Trade Unions, the country’s biggest labor group, which initially opposed forcing people to get inoculated, has now joined business groups in backing the move.