Implementing vaccination for drivers

​Drivers, and employees of transport enterprises began to be vaccinated

5,000 high-risk drivers and employees are vaccinated

According to statistics, in Dong Nai Province, there are more than 500 transport businesses and cooperatives, with about 60,000 vehicles used for passenger and goods transportation. Therefore, the number of drivers who need to be vaccinated against covid-19 is very large. At the request of the Government, the driver forces are on the list of subjects prioritized for vaccination against Covid-19, so the community of business, transport business cooperatives and drivers are very interested.

To ensure the transportation of goods and the supply chain of goods not being disrupted due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Department of Transport has coordinated with the health sector to deploy Covid-19 vaccination for about 5,000 high-risk drivers and employees. Priority is given to subjects on duty participating in the epidemic prevention and control and transporting essential goods.

The deployment to prepare for vaccination for drivers has been announced by the Department of Transport since the end of July, according to which businesses and transport business units register a list of drivers and employees in the unit who are in frequent contact with people at high-risk of infection to recommend vaccination first.

The Department of Transport has paid great attention, it has been estimated that 51,000 people will be vaccinated and have compiled to be sent to the Department of Health. However, initially, due to limited vaccine resources, the Department of Health only provided 10% of the required quantity, about more than 5,000 doses. This amount has been allocated to the localities according to the list registered with the Department of Transport, however, to ensure the urgency, the Department has prioritized allocation to the most necessary subjects, in which the forces of drivers transporting the goods for import and export and transporting the goods into the risk areas being injected first. The Department will also continue to monitor and grasp the situation and support businesses to access and vaccinate against Covid-19 as quickly as possible. 

More confident after getting vaccinated

To implement vaccination for employees working in the field of circulation, goods transportation, logistics, especially the essential goods to serve the people’s demands, will contribute to the production supply chain as well as the supply of food and foodstuff is not discrupted. If the driver forces are slow to be vaccinated, the circulation of import and export goods will immediately be difficult while Dong Nai is one of the localities with a high proportion of import and export the whole country. Beside that, although production and essential goods are guaranteed, there is no force to transport to locations in the lockdown area, leading people's lives to be even more difficult. A representative of Thong Quan Viet Duc Joint Stock Company said that, unlike the production workers, it is possible to implement the “3 things on the spot” option and stay at the enterprise's campus, but drivers and people on related duties of importing and exporting cannot have the same option. During the last month, this enterprise has been worried a lot because the work has been partially affected, but the worriness for the employees’ health is what the business is most concerned about. So far, the company's driver forces have also initially been injected the first dose of vaccine, this has helped businesses and drivers feel more secure to continue their work. 

According to the enterprises, not only many employees and drivers are very anxious to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 epidemic, but workers in "3 things on the spot" manufacturing enterprises are also very stressful. The current problem is that the province should properly allocate vaccines to each subject and deploy vaccination as quickly as possible, helping frontline businesses maintain production and circulation of goods for the economy.

Vi Quan