Yap
KOTA KINABALU: The latest standard operating procedures (SOP) allowing only fully vaccinated employees and customers to work and patronise supermarkets or eateries have come as a surprise for many, said Sabah Employers Association (SEA) president Yap Cheen Boon.
“This exposes the dichotomy facing current battle against Covid-19 infections – without immensive engagements with private sectors, health-centric policy measures will result in economic collateral damages.”
He said the state’s adult full vaccination rate currently stands at 20 per cent.
“Hence with a stroke of a pen only 20 per cent of supermarket outlets and eateries will have the approvals to open, and in turn receive up to 20 per cent of customers at any time.”
The flow on impact will be a further proverbial nail, he said.
Yap pointed out that businesses cannot compel, nor force employees to be vaccinated.
As such, he said businesses without fully vaccinated staff will be paying the price for actions beyond their control.
“If engagements have been ongoing with private sectors from the get go, instead of forcing businesses at the receiving ends of SOPs hitherto announced, complimentary measures could be proposed to minimise the economic impact on now the worst performing state in the country.”
He said businesses without fully vaccinated employees should be able to operate, with weekly screening tests conducted on employees paid for by businesses and submitted to the Health Ministry for monitoring.
He added that employees choosing not to be vaccinated for any reason should not enjoy the same benefits as fully vaccinated colleagues, such as having access to same level of salary and benefits even though not working under the latest SOP.
By having fully vaccinated and not vaccinated employees under one roof, Yap said businesses will be forced to incur expenses to curtail workplace cross infections, seeing now that many community infections have been unfairly treated as workplace incurred, when invariably it is workplace that reported occurrences only when employees got infected outside and report for duty afterwards.
“It will be an uphill battle for the state government to tackle both rising infections and sinking economy.
“It is but not a singular struggle, with only medical viewpoint and putting aside economics.
“The battle can be, and should be fought hand in hand together, by engaging with private sectors and seek feedback, comments, commitment from businesses to not just follow SOPs, as well to serve as implementation agents.”