The Armenian parliament approved a law Friday that would allow employers to fire workers who don't show proof of vaccination against COVID 19 or a negative test result.
Russia's ex-Soviet neighbor has some of the lowest vaccination rates in the Caucasus region.
A new rule was issued in August by the ministry of health, which required Armenian citizens to provide proof of vaccination or a negative PCR test every two weeks or face a fine.
If the employee isn't providing a vaccination certificate or negative COVID-19 test, the employer is given the right to fire the employee, suspend their pay and suspend their employees if they are off for 10 working days because of that, Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ruben Sargsyan said Friday.
The new vaccination requirement will not apply to the country's president, prime minister, members of parliament or the National Assembly, the ombudsman, judges of the Constitutional Court and a number of other officials, Sargsyan said.
This exception was established because these positions are either institutional as in the case of parliamentary deputies, or their holders are appointed in accordance with the Constitution, he said.
Armenia started a mass vaccination campaign in April, with authorities planning to inoculate 700,000 of the country's 2.9 million citizens by the end of the year. By December 6, only 516,989 citizens had been fully vaccinated.
The citizens of Armenia can choose to get vaccinated with the Sputnik V, AstraZeneca, CoronaVac, Sinopharm or Moderna jabs.