The Zimbabwean government has announced it will no longer pay the salaries of employees who have not been vaccinated against Covid 19. At the same time, staff who have been jabbed are to return to work at offices “with immediate effect,” following more than a year of remote working.

Over the past few weeks, Zimbabwe has eased restrictions on public gatherings as cases of the Omicron variant begin to recede.

According to a Herald report, employees who cannot provide proof of vaccination will be banned from their places of work, face “disciplinary proceedings” and forfeit their salaries.

People who are exempt from vaccination for medical reasons must provide an exemption certificate from a medic, as per a notice from the Public Service Commission, in charge of employment conditions for government workers.

Since the start of the pandemic in 2020, Zimbabwe’s government departments have been working with minimal staff, with the majority working from home.

In September last year, the government instructed all of its 500,000 workers to have the vaccine. Yet Zimbabwe’s largest labour federation has challenged vaccine mandates imposed by the government and private employers.

As it stands, 22% of Zimbabwe’s 15 million population have received two Covid vaccines, with the government now having introduced booster jabs.

At the end of last year, vaccinations for children aged 16 and over were introduced in Zimbabwe, the majority being the Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines from China.

The government had aimed for over 60% of the population to be inoculated by the end of 2021, and is now trying to reach that figure this year.