Mandatory vaccination in Colombia

The debate on mandatory vaccination in Colombia is more alive than ever.

Through Circular 003, dated January 12, 2022, the Ministry of Labor urged employers to require their employees to have their respective vaccination card with their vaccination schedule up to date when performing work in face-to-face events of a public or private nature that involve mass attendance at places such as those mentioned in Article 2 of Decree 1615 of 2021, i.e.:

• Bars.
• Gastrobars.
• Restaurants.
• Cinemas.
• Discotheques.
• Dance venues.
• Concerts.
• Casinos.
• Bingos and leisure activities.
• Sports venues.
• Themed amusement park.
• Museums and fairs.

In addition to the mandatory vaccination in Colombia…

The employer must deploy actions, mechanisms and establish biosecurity protocols for the protection of the life and health of its workers, not only the mandatory vaccination in Colombia, but also the hygiene and safety measures that can ensure the development of work activities in the workplace in safe conditions.

This measure seeks to maintain the same line of reasoning of previous decrees and circulars, mostly issued by the Ministry of Health, where it is sought that in places where several people gather and have full capacity, it is guaranteed that people are vaccinated against the coronavirus.

In fact, at the end of last year, Resolution 1687 of 2021 was issued, a resolution to require vaccination cards at events with 100% capacity.

This makes the previous decree more coherent, since it was contradictory to require full vaccination of the assistants, but not of the workers who would attend to the assistants.

In conclusion

We can affirm that the measure of compulsory vaccination in Colombia is in force exclusively for the cases mentioned above, at least for the time being, taking into account the current nature of the issue, we could see significant changes this year, so it is a topic on which it is relevant to remain attentive.