Prague, 3 January 2022 (dpa/MIA) - In the Czech Republic, more than 3,000 civil servants have signed a letter of protest against plans to make vaccination against Covid-19 obligatory for their professions. The signatories included soldiers, police officers and members of the fire and rescue services. The letter, which was made public on Monday, calls on the new prime minister, Petr Fiala, to withdraw the regulation that is due to enter force on March 1. Otherwise, they said, there could be a wave of dismissals that could endanger the "basic functions of the state." The vaccination requirement was passed by the previous government, led by populist billionaire Andrej Babis. So far, the vaccination rate for the Czech police and fire brigade is more than 75 per cent, according to official figures, and around 85 per cent for the army. Meanwhile the Czech Republic's seven-day incidence rate of new infections per 100,000 people is 335, although the true figure may be higher as fewer tests were carried out during the holidays.