Cross-border Workers in Switzerland and Vaccination Programme

Cross-border Workers in Switzerland

                Switzerland rely very much on cross-border workers, who are essential to the economy. According to data for 2019, an estimated 325,000 workers commuted to work to Switzerland every day, including 177,000 from France, 76,000 from Italy, 60,000 from Germany. There are some regions where cross-border workers are more common than in others – they represent even one third of workforce, or industries, where employees from other countries commuting to work in Switzerland are almost a norm. For instance, in Geneva 60 percent of health works are residents of France. Meanwhile in the canton of Ticino, neighbouring with Italy, one in five healthcare employees come from Italy – this is around 4,000 people. Generally, Ticino’s population with cross-border workers increase to 440,000 form 360,000 residents, during a typical work day.

Vaccinations of Cross-border Workers

                Due to the COVID-19 pandemic much has changed in Swiss economic and labour landscape. The economy got hit with lockdown, the exchange rate of CHF went up significantly, and some cross-border workers have lost their jobs. The newly launched vaccination programme across Switzerland and the whole content gives hope to end the pandemic. What about cross-border workers? Can they get vaccinated to be able to come back to work in office, for instance? Many cross-border workers who live in neighbouring countries have health insurance provided by their Swiss employer. That means they can get vaccinated in Switzerland. As Federal Office of Public Health claims all cross-border workers who have Swiss health insurance can get vaccination in Switzerland. In such situation, cross-border workers will have vaccinations for free, as the cantons and the Swiss government cover costs. Additionally, employees working for healthcare sector, even if they don’t have Swiss insurance, can get vaccination in Switzerland for free. This applies to those in direct contact with patients, as they should get shots in first place, as well as care personnel in old people’s and nursing homes. If cross-border workers don’t work for healthcare sector and don’t have Swiss health insurance, they should get vaccinated in countries of their residence, with costs covered by their home country health insurance provider. It is also worth mentioning, that any foreign resident who lives in Switzerland can get vaccine free of charge, on the same terms as Swiss nationals. No priority is given to Swiss citizens over Swiss legal residents or cross-border workers.