Health minister wants compulsory vaccination for selected groups of the population

The Czech Health Ministry plans to introduce compulsory vaccination for people over 60 and people in high-risk professions, such as health care workers and people in social services, soldiers, police officers, firefighters and customs officers. The regulation will come into effect as of March 2022. President Zeman on Monday also voiced support for compulsory vaccinations saying they were the only way out of the protracted health crisis.

However the new administration of Prime Minister Petr Fiala has rejected the idea of mandatory vaccination, arguing that it would raise a wave of protests and divide the society. The nominee for health minister Vlastimil Válek said the new government’s first steps in the fight against Covid would be to further restrict elective care and increase the number of PCR tests conducted.