The Ondo State government says it would begin barring its employees from gaining access to their work places beginning November 1, if they fail to obtain vaccinations against COVID-19.
The order was made known on Wednesday in Akure by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Segun Odusanya.
Ondo joins other states like Edo and Kaduna, including the federal government who have taken similar measures.
The Ondo official said the decision became necessary in view of the ravaging effects of COVID-19 and its attendant morbidity.
Mr Odusanya warned that presentation of the COVID-19 vaccination card and compliance to its protocols would be the gate pass to the work place from November 1.
He said said those without the card would not be allowed into the ministries and other areas of the secretariat.
He said the order would be enforced as a means of protecting members of staff.
He urged civil servants to prioritise their health by doing routine checks of their blood pressure, blood sugar and other necessary checks as certain deaths could be prevented if one is careful and sensitive.
“Be conscious of your health, do routine checks. Be up and doing on your jobs, stay in your offices, face the reality of the economic situation in the country, don’t spend recklessly and make good use of the little that is available to you and all will be well.”
Edo State had some weeks earlier, made the vaccination mandatory for civil servants although workers had resisted the policy.
They were also barred from office areas if not armed with the vaccination card.
This was even as an order of a federal high court in Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, barred the state from the implementation of the policy.