IATF requires vaccination for onsite workers, regular Covid-19 test for unvaccinated

As the country's workforce starts returning to work, the government's pandemic task force is now mandating employers to require their onsite workers to get vaccinated against the virus.

This came after the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF-EID) updated on Monday, June 27, the country's Covid-19 testing policy.

IATF said vaccination for onsite workers shall be mandatory in areas with enough vaccine supplies.

Meanwhile, employers are obliged to require their unvaccinated onsite workers to undergo regular Covid-19 tests, specifically an RT-PCR (reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction) test once every two weeks or a weekly antigen test.

Testing requirements shall be waived for areas under Alert Level 1, subject to the implementation of clinical-based management, including symptomatic testing. However, testing requirements shall be reinstated in areas under Alert Level 2 or higher.

"Employees in the public sector, including local government units, may cover the costs of the RT-PCR or antigen tests to be administered, subject to availability of funds, and civil service, accounting and auditing rules and regulations," IATF said.

Exempted from the testing requirement are workers with recent Covid-19 infection within 90 days and those with alternative working arrangements that do not require onsite reporting.