The Negros Occidental provincial government will not impose a no vaccination, no work rule, Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson Jr. said Thursday, December 9.
Lacson said he will not issue an executive order to that effect, “we will just have to continue convincing the Capitol employees to have themselves vaccinated.”
Local government units all over the country are coming up with policies to encourage vaccination, he said.
“We cannot make vaccination mandatory but we can come up with policies that will encourage vaccination,” Lacson said.
He said about 15 to 20 percent of the provincial government employees have not been vaccinated yet.
Meanwhile, the governor said he does not expect the provincial government to hit its vaccination target for herd immunity by the end of the year.
But the provincial government is continuing to ramp up its vaccination drive to hit herd immunity at the soonest time possible, Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said.
He said the massive vaccination drive has helped drive down the COVID-19 cases in the province.
Negros Occidental had 321 active COVID-19 cases on Thursday, the Provincial Incident Management Team reported.*