Draghi govt OKs Green Pass obligation for workers

(ANSA) - ROME, SEP 16 - Premier Mario Draghi's cabinet on Thursday voted unanimously to make the Green Pass COVID-19 vaccine passport obligatory for all workplaces, sources said.
    The obligation is set to kick on from October 15 and remain in force until the end of the year, the sources said.
    It will be required for private and public sector workers and volunteers too, according to the sources.
    Employees who go to work without the Green Pass will be suspended without pay after five days, a draft of the new measure said.
    People who dodge Green Pass checks risk fines of 600 and 1,500 euros, it said.
    People will be able to get COVID tests in pharmacies at a reduced price, the sources said.
    The government will also ask for the Green Pass obligation to be extended to parliament, the presidential palace and the Constitutional Court as the new rules do not automatically apply to Constitutional bodies, the sources said.
    The green certificate shows that someone is vaccinated for the coronavirus, has recovered from it or has tested negative in the last two days.
    So it is possible for unvaccinated people to get a short-term Green Pass but they need to keep having COVID tests to renew it.
    The vaccine passport is already necessary to do many things in Italy, such travel abroad or on high-speed trains and on domestic flights, attend certain events and to be able to sit at a table inside bars and restaurants.
    Any adult that enters a school, including a parent, must have it and so must all higher education staff and students. (ANSA).