The government will not force people to take the coronavirus vaccine, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Nograles asserted Thursday after the labor department opposed the imposition of a "no vaccine, no work" policy.

Nograles maintained that the COVID-19 vaccination will not be made mandatory, but said the government encourages people to get inoculated to enhance their protection against the coronavirus illness.

"The President has always (said) na hindi tayo ipipilit itong vaccines sa ating mga kababayan. Walang pilitan 'yan (we will not force the vaccines on our countrymen. It won't be compulsory)," Nograles said during a televised press briefing Thursday, March 4.

"Walang pilitan para kay Pangulong Duterte although talagang ine-encourage niya at encourage ng buong gobyerno ang lahat ng kababayan na kayo na rin susunod, kahit nasa line na magpapabakunahan, tanggapin natin ito ng buong loob at walang pag-aalinlangan (For President Duterte, it should not be mandatory although he encourages, the entire government encourages all our countrymen to openly accept the vaccines without doubts once they are next in line of the vaccination)," he said.

Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III earlier announced that employees may refuse to take the vaccine without the risk of losing their jobs. Bello insisted that vaccination cannot be compulsory in the workplace. He warned businesses against imposing a "no vaccine, no work" requirement, saying there was no legal basis for such policy.

The government has vaccinated over 9,000 people, mostly health professionals, since the immunization started Monday, March 1. The vaccination was carried out a day after the country received its first batch of life-saving vaccines from China. Around 600,000 doses of Sinovac vaccines, donated by China, arrived in Manila last Sunday.

The country is expected to receive another vaccine supply Thursday, this time more than 400,000 AstraZeneca doses through the World Health Organization's COVAX facility. President Duterte is set to personally welcome the vaccine arrival at the airport.

Nograles, also co-chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases, said they expect public confidence in the vaccines to further improve as the more vaccinations take place in government and private hospitals across the country. He noted the demand for Sinovac vaccines among health workers has already increased in recent days.

So far, Nograles said the government's vaccine rollout has been safe and smooth. There has been no fatal adverse effect reported from the vaccine recipients, he added.