No mandatory jabs in Negros Occidental, says gov

BACOLOD CITY––The Negros Occidental provincial government will not impose a ‘no-vaccination-no-work rule,’ according to Gov. Eugenio Jose Lacson Jr.

“We will just have to continue convincing the Capitol employees to have themselves vaccinated,” he said.

Many local governments of the country are drafting policies to encourage vaccination.

“We cannot make vaccination mandatory, but we can come up with policies that will encourage vaccination,” Lacson said.

He said 15 to 20 percent of the provincial government employees had not yet been vaccinated.

He said he did not expect the provincial government to hit its vaccination target for herd immunity by the end of the year.

But the provincial government continues to ramp up its vaccination drive to hit herd immunity at the soonest time possible.

Provincial Administrator Rayfrando Diaz said the massive vaccination drive had helped decrease the COVID-19 cases in the province.

Negros Occidental had 321 active COVID-19 cases as of Thursday.

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