There are twenty countries around the world that have declared COVID-19 vaccine administration mandatory. Among those countries are countries France, Italy, Britain, Australia, and others. Most of these countries are producing their vaccines that make it easier for the authorities to implement compulsory vaccination for all citizens.

However, within the African continent, there is no single country that has made it mandatory so far. South Africa, Nigeria, and Morocco that are considered the most developed countries in Africa’s do not want to take the risk of creating more unemployment because employers will toughen measures against those employees who fail to receive the vaccines. This is what most countries are trying to avoid so much to avoid causing problems with the citizens.

Meanwhile, on October 14, the South Sudanese government ordered a mandatory mass vaccination campaign against the COVID-19 pandemic, saying it wants to determine the level of the virus infections in the country.

According to the order, all employees in both public and private institutions will be subjected to mass testing. It urged all the heads of the public and private institutions to immediately implement the order without hesitation despite the fact the country does not produce its vaccine to make it accessible to all citizens. The government said in the next few months to come, traveling outside might require mandatory COVID-19 vaccine certificates. 

Currently, over 7.5 million people are just thinking about how to survive the floods and no ordinary person seems to care about getting COVID-19 jabs. 

This could only be possible because, in those countries where the mandatory COVID-19 vaccine is being implemented, the governments of those respective countries have directed the employers to provide paid time off for vaccinations and recovery from possible side effects.

It is only employers with 100+workers that are required to vaccine their employees.

The government should also come with a law to protect the employees in case some develop complications as a result of the vaccine that may temporarily affect their performances.

What would be the compensation especially for those with underline conditions? It is easy to pass an order but law often works better than order because it protects everybody. What is important is that the government creates a safe environment and policy that protect workplace culture where all workers feel supported. South Sudan has a diverse society and we all know that no community shares all of the same beliefs, perceptions, and concerns.

Every individual and community is unique, and every employee deserves to have their questions answered before deciding on vaccines. Getting vaccinated or not should be treated as an individual choice that you should be respected. However, this should not be taken as an encouragement for people to base their thesis but the worries are there are likely tendencies from some employers to dismiss their employees who may refuse to take vaccines due to personal choice. This may result in a high unemployment rate if such an unlawful act is taken by some employees. Apart from being dismissed by employers, there are some employee will not accept to take the COVID-19 vaccine even if it means losing the job.