FPP and NIL position on vaccination verification

The draft law concerns the most important issue for entrepreneurs, including those engaged in medical activities, i.e. the rules for verifying vaccinations in workplaces and in other fields of business activity. The content of these regulations will determine the effectiveness of further fighting the pandemic in its critical phase and the extent to which entrepreneurs will be able to function - all in conditions where on average hundreds of people die from COVID-19 per week, the rates of new infections start again rise and the threat of another coronavirus wave from the new Omikron variant is growing.

The low percentage of vaccinated people in society and the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus, which is much more infectious than earlier variants, require decisive action by public authorities, including in particular legislative action, defining the legal framework for the functioning of society, the economy and health care system during the expected largest wave of infections to date. There is no doubt that the current data on the numbers of infections and deaths, the state of the health care system, and the perspective of the next weeks and months, when the Omikron variant spreads in the country, require urgent legislative measures to effectively combat COVID-19 based on solutions used in many European countries.

The vast majority of developed countries have introduced regulations that make access to certain facilities and use of services conditional on the fact of being vaccinated, as well as the power for employers to control vaccination among employees and take decisive action to ensure safety in the workplace. Regulations of this type have been introduced, inter alia, in Denmark, Italy, France, Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Romania, Switzerland, as well as in Latvia, Hungary and Ukraine. Similar regulations are necessary in our country. Such regulations serve not only to increase the number of people vaccinated, but also to reduce the risk of virus transmission. Importantly, they do not require closing enterprises or entire sectors of the economy.

It is impossible not to notice that the health care system in Poland may not withstand the dramatic increase in incidence, which is already noted in other countries where the Omikron variant appeared earlier. The lack of decisive action by public authorities to increase the level of vaccination and limit the possibility of virus transmission, may lead to a situation in which subsequent covid patients will not be able to provide any medical care in the coming months. Poland has a highly effective means of combating the pandemic and mitigating its consequences - in the form of vaccinations. Millions of ready-to-use doses of COVID-19 vaccines are waiting in warehouses and vaccination centers.

The only thing missing is a strong stimulus from the state in the form of legal regulations adequate to the level of threat.

Marek Kowalski - chairman of the Federation of Polish Entrepreneurs,
prof. dr hab. med. Andrzej Matyja - President of the Supreme Medical Council