A Japanese homebuilder’s stock fell 10% after the boss banned staff from getting vaccinated – and said those who do would be punished

• Japan homebuilder Tama Home’s stock fell 10% on a report its boss threatened vaccinated employees.
• The president said those who get jabbed would die five years later, a weekly magazine reported.
• The company denied the report, saying the decision to get vaccinated is an individual choice.
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Shares in Japanese homebuilder Tama Home fell 10% on Wednesday, marking their biggest one-day fall in over three years, after a report said the company’s president warned employees they’d be punished if they get vaccinated for coronavirus.

Company president Shinya Tamaki told managers he was against vaccination, and warned that people who took the vaccine would die five years later, according to weekly Japanese magazine Shukan Bunshun.

Tamaki added employees who choose to get vaccinated would be ordered to stay at home indefinitely, without being allowed to work. That would be treated as absenteeism, which meant they would be unpaid, the report said.

Internal e-mails also warned employees of the dangers associated with 5G phones. The report didn’t specify what risks were associated with the cellular network, but a conspiracy theory linking 5G with coronavirus had been circulating social media since January 2020.

Tama Home’s shares closed 10% lower on Wednesday, declining the most in more than three years. It was the biggest fall on Japan’s Topix index, which was overall up 0.8%.

The company denied it had pressurized workers about the vaccination, or threatened to put jobs in danger if employees decide to get immunized, the report said.

“Regarding the inoculation of the new corona vaccine, it is left to individual judgment,” a spokesperson said, according to a translation from the Japanese report.

Tokyo seems to be going through a third wave of coronavirus infections ahead of the Tokyo Olympics opening on Friday. The city reported 727 new cases on Monday, falling just below the 1,000 level it posted across five straight days. About 22% of the population is fully vaccinated so far, according to data from Johns Hopkins University of Medicine.

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