At the end of October, the head of the Prime Minister’s Office, Gergely Gulyás, announced that employers would be given the option of requiring their employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. The recent instructions from the head of the parliamentary office that those working in parliament must be vaccinated against COVID-19 apply to officials and employees of the National Assembly, but not to members of parliament.

Firstly, some were guessing that the decision means that vaccination will be mandatory for politicians as well, but this is not the case.

"The instructions cannot contain such provisions,”

Zoltán Szilágyi, the press officer of the Parliament, said in reaction to press reports according to which the MPs are obliged to be vaccinated.

György Such, head of the parliamentary office, later stressed to Telex that only employees can be vaccinated, as lawmakers are not employed by parliament and can only be required by law to be vaccinated.

The press chief of the National Assembly also issued a statement on the matter, saying that MPs were not obliged to be vaccinated.

"The bulletin issued by the Director-General of the Office of the National Assembly, which requires vaccination against coronavirus as a condition of employment, applies only to parliamentary officials and employees of the office, not to members of parliament,”

stressed Szilágyi.

Employees must be vaccinated with at least the first dose of one of the vaccines by December 31 and provide proof of this. Only those who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons are exempt from this requirement.

Those who do not get vaccinated will be placed on unpaid leave beginning Jan. 1, 2022, which they cannot replace with home leave, and will not be eligible for full healthcare coverage until they are vaccinated.

"In the interest of the safety of all employees and the protection of health and life, I ask for your kind cooperation,”

wrote Such.

This is not the first time during the pandemic that different rules apply for politicians in the National Assembly and those working with them.

At the end of October, Gergely Gulyás announced that employers would be given the option of requiring their employees to be vaccinated as a condition of employment. Several municipalities, such as Budapest’s districts XII and XVI, have made use of this option and made vaccination mandatory, as have the Hungarian Armed Forces and ELTE.