As a leading healthcare company, Novartis is playing an important part by supporting vaccination to help overcome the pandemic. The safety of all associates, our customers, business partners and the communities where we run our operations remain a top priority for us. As company we have agreed on a long-term strategy supporting the global vaccination efforts and the COVID-19 vaccines are proven to be a powerful tool enabling us to move back to a more regular life.
In countries, where sufficient vaccine is available – and where it is in line with local law and regulations – we ask associates to only come on site if they are either fully vaccinated or fully recovered from COVID-19 within the last 6 months. If locally required and needed COVID-19 tests can also be accepted to access sites.
This measure applies from October 4, 2021 in countries where sufficient vaccination supply is available and where it does not contradict local law. Local management can decide to adjust these principles based on the local regulations and general local situation as well as decide how best to ensure the COVID-19 Guiding Principles are followed.
When on site, every associate should continue adhering to the safety and hygiene measures which Novartis introduced in 2020 – keep sufficient distance from each other at all times; wash hands frequently with soap and water; cover mouth and nose when sneezing or coughing; clean spaces after use; stay home when sick and contact physician.
These five golden rules have proven very effective but we now feel we need to take a further step to ensure we are doing everything we can to protect the safety and wellbeing of our associates.