Estonia’s Kallas urges to use unvaccinated worker lay-off as last resort

As Estonian military, police and border guard have called on their employees to get vaccinated against Covid-19 by October or risk getting fired, head of government Kaja Kallas has urged the bodies to ask people to leave their jobs only after all other options are exhausted, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
In the first week of September, the leadership of the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board and the Estonian Defence Forces have called on all their workers to be vaccinated. The Estonian Rescue Board, meanwhile, is also focusing on having their internal vaccine coverage at 90 percent with it currently just over 80 percent, yet it does not plan to ask unvaccinated workers to leave.
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The current vaccination rate in the Estonian Police and Border Guard Board is is somewhere around 80%. Out of the active servicemen in the Estonian Defence Forces, close to 90% are currently vaccinated.
«It is understandable for say the ambulance service since they are dealing with people with lower immunity, but if they are not positions where there are people with lower immunity, then we must see if we can implement other measures until the final step of asking a person to leave,» Kaja Kallas, the Estonian Prime Minister stressed this week, ERR reports.