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<\/p>\nPimlico Plumbers will introduce a \u201cno jab, no job\u201d policy requiring all of its workers to be vaccinated against Covid-19.<\/p>\n
Charlie Mullins, Pimlico\u2019s founder and former chief executive, now chairman, said the company\u2019s lawyers were drafting new employment contracts for its 400-strong workforce to include the vaccine requirement.<\/p>\n
Governments around the world have started major programmes after regulators approved a series of vaccinations. The UK had given more than 2.6 million people the first dose of a vaccine by Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Extensive medical trials have found the vaccines approved by UK regulators are safe. However, there are concerns that the increase in hesitancy and so-called anti-vaxxers around the world will lead to lower vaccination rates, risking further coronavirus outbreaks and potentially endangering the lives of others.<\/p>\n
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\u201cNo vaccine, no job,\u201d Mullins said in an interview with City A.M. \u201cWhen we go off to Africa and Caribbean countries, we have to have a jab for malaria \u2013 we don\u2019t think about it, we just do it. So why would we accept something within our country that\u2019s going to kill us when we can have a vaccine to stop it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Some tropical countries require travellers to have inoculations against diseases such as yellow fever. There is no malaria vaccine, but anti-malarial treatments \u2013 typically delivered in pill form \u2013 are also commonplace.<\/p>\n
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Other businesses have backed the vaccines. Unilever\u2019s chief executive, Alan Jope, on Wednesday said the company would strongly encourage all of its workers to have the vaccine, but said the FTSE 100 firm would stop short of making it mandatory.<\/p>\n
In Australia, the Council of Small Business Organisations, a lobby group, said last summer it would back making vaccinations mandatory.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf one of my staff members says, \u2018No, I\u2019m against it\u2019, then I\u2019m going to have to say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry you are a threat to my business\u2019,\u201d the council\u2019s chief executive, Peter Strong, told Australia\u2019s 7News.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t sack them, you don\u2019t have a business, especially if you\u2019re in a high-contact area where you\u2019ve got a lot of customers.\u201d<\/p>\n