On Tuesday, the Parliamentary Health Committee adopted the amendments of MP Czesław Hoc (PiS) to the bill on verification of employee tests. However, it rejected amendments proposed by the opposition, including an amendment by the Left to introduce universal vaccination obligations.
Vaccination verification. The Health Committee adopted the draft
Published Jan. 12, 2022 13:18
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The meeting of the Health Committee was started by a dispute with members of the Confederation, who demanded that "assistants and experts" be admitted to the meeting, some of whom took part in a demonstration in front of the Sejm, during which there was, inter alia, the slogan "You will hang!". The chairman of the Health Committee, Tomasz Latos, did not accede to Grzegorz Braun's request, arguing that on January 5, a public hearing of the bill was held, during which all the applicants could speak (which was used by almost one hundred percent of the anti-vaccine community, for several hours by submitting their comments to as much to the bill as to the legitimacy of vaccination against COVID-19).
Once this was settled, MP Rajmund Miller (KO) asked MPs to celebrate a minute's silence for the victims of the coronavirus. Just on Tuesday, Poland broke the barrier of 100,000 confirmed deaths by COVID-19 , so it was a symbolic moment.
When the proceedings began, it turned out that the title of the act needed to be corrected: Czesław Hoc proposed that the words "running a business" should be replaced with the phrase: "conducting business". The amendment was adopted, while Braun's suggestion to title the law "on the introduction of sanitary aparthaid in outsourcing to employers" was rejected.
Other amendments from the Confederation, which the Legislative Office grouped into seven packages and were voted in this form, did not receive support. Confederation hoped to block (extend) work on the bill, but the packages differed mainly in the amendment proposing to postpone the entry into force of the act from 2082 to 2099, so there was no problem with blocking them.
The committee adopted an amendment (by Czesław Hoc) assuming that the employee presents the employer with a COVID-19 test result or an EU digital covid certificate, i.e. a certificate confirming the test result or convalescent status, or acceptance of the COVID-19 vaccination.
The provision on the possibility of posting an employee who fails to present a valid test result to another place of work disappeared from the draft (at the request of MP Hoc). At the same time, the deputies did not accept the amendment proposed by Łukasz Kozłowski from Employers of the Republic of Poland (taken over by one of the deputies of the KO), so that in the absence of the possibility of transferring the employee to another job, the employer could send the employee on vacation, and then unpaid until the employee is vaccinated - in therefore, in fact, employers have no way of influencing the employee to get vaccinated or get tested!
The amendment by Marcelina Zawisza (Left) was not approved by the committee, which provided that an employee may request, for example, a remote job if the employer breaks the rules of sanitary safety.
MPs Poland 2050 submitted an amendment on the compulsory vaccination of employees of medical facilities. However, the legislative office recalled that there is already a regulation of the Minister of Health "consuming" this amendment. At the same time, the provision allowing managers of medical entities to introduce mandatory vaccinations was removed from the draft - with the same justification.
The amendments by KO and Poland 2050 on compulsory vaccinations for teachers or nursing home workers, as well as on the obligation to vaccinate deputies and senators were also rejected.
The Left's most far-reaching vaccination amendment, obliging all adult citizens to vaccinate, was also rejected.
In turn, MP Anna Siarkowska (PiS) tabled an amendment going in the opposite direction - that people who have been shown antibodies or an appropriate level of cellular immunity, confirmed by tests, are exempt from the obligation to vaccinate.
MPs did not support the amendment of MP Marcelina Zawisza, introducing a day off from work on the day of vaccination and the day after, as well as 100 percent. wages for the period of quarantine or isolation. As the deputy argued, many people now avoid testing for fear of quarantine, during which only 80 percent of the money is paid. salary.
21 MPs voted over the entire bill, 10 were against and 6 abstained. The bill is currently waiting for the second reading in the Sejm.
