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The Citizen reports that according to experts, government’s Covid-19 vaccine plan should include retail workers, who remain among the most vulnerable considering their essential service of interacting with customers, which has continued throughout the lockdown.
The Covid-19 vaccination programme’s priority strategy is targeting the most essential and vulnerable, starting with frontline healthcare workers and over 60s, moving to teachers, over 50s, and now members of the police force. Yet, it seems government has forgotten other essential workers, such as retail workers and others who have ensured our shelves stay stocked and our food supply is secure, said Professor Alex van den Heever of Wits University. He pointed out that the people who have to come to work and who can’t work from home and have to interact with other people are the high-risk people. “It doesn’t matter whether private sector or public sector – we need people in the retail sector and they are highly vulnerable. They have to travel by taxi to and from work – so they are a priority,” Van den Heever argued. And it is not only retail workers, but anyone whose job is to keep the economy afloat, including taxi drivers, retail workers, and mine workers, who should be higher up on the waiting list, said Professor Glenda Gray, president of the SA Medical Research Council .
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Rorisang Kgosana at The Citizen (paywall access only)
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page