KINGSTON, Jamaica— NCB Financial Group has become the latest entity to mandate that all its employees be vaccinated against COVID-19.

In a letter to staff members, NCB stated that all its employees, whether permanent, temporary or on contract, who are either working in office or remotely, will be required to provide their vaccination cards by October 31 as proof that they are either partially or fully vaccinated.

According to NCB, employees who have not received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by October 31 will be required to submit a legitimate negative PCR COVID-19 test result, to be done at the employee’s expense by the Wednesday of each week, beginning November 3.

The financial group said the decision comes in the wake of the continuing raise in COVID-19 cases and the country’s increasing virus death toll.

 “As an employer, we have an over-riding duty of care to establish and maintain a safe work environment, to protect the safety and health of employees, and to provide a reasonably safe space for our customers to conduct business. As individuals, we have an obligation to take all reasonable steps to protect ourselves, our co-workers and customers,” the letter read.

The company noted that since the start of the pandemic, it has had almost 200 confirmed cases since and “we have experienced the heartbreak and extreme pain coming from the deaths of three members of our NCB family.”

“Vaccines have emerged as the most effective measure to minimise transmission of the disease, prevent deaths and minimise hospitalization from serious COVID-19 related Illness,” the letter added.

NCB said that employees who have not received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine by October 31 and are unable to produce a current PCR test result will be unable to attend work and will be required to take the days on which they are absent as unpaid leave.

“The employee may, with the agreement of his/her manager, use any vacation days that he/she has to his/her credit in lieu of unpaid days,” it said.

“If an employee believes that he/she will be not able to be vaccinated due to underlying medical issues, he/she will be required to submit a medical certificate before October 31 for review by NCB’s assigned medical practitioner,” the company said.