- the differing rights of port workers, cruise ships, and merchant crews when it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations
- the priority around shipping is the “stuff” aboard ships and not many think about the human beings
Seatrade Maritime News columnist Michael Grey mulls the differing rights of port workers, cruise ships, and merchant crews when it comes to Covid-19 vaccinations in an article published on Seatrade Maritime.
Mandatory ‘vaccine’
The government has provoked the wrath of the waterside workers by suggesting that it should be made mandatory for them to be vaccinated against the disease as a condition of their employment. This, of course, has led to enraged shouts about human rights, which, these days seem to trump everything, including common sense.
The rationale for this is obvious. If the disease is brought to the shores of their country by infected international seafarers, who might conceivably get a bit too close to a passing wharfie aboard their ships, then vaccination of the waterside workforce would provide a sensible measure of protection.
Available vaccinations
An international seafarer, on the other hand, who knows that shore leave is not permitted in that well-protected country, might sardonically observe that it would make just as much sense if they would make available vaccinations for seafarers.
That option probably will not have occurred to the government of NZ any more than it is thought about by those in charge in many other countries in these times of pandemic. The priority around shipping is the “stuff” aboard ships and not many people, as they obsess about the “logistics chain”, ever think about the human beings who drive ships for a living. They have human rights too, but it is obviously somebody else’s job to think about them.
Localized fear
It is quite obvious that more could be done to provide an internationally acceptable vaccination service for this itinerant workforce if the will was there. The Netherlands, among a minority of other nations, has made available such a service and there was a recent story about no fewer than 110 crew members of a cruise ship getting the jab on the quayside alongside their ship. We were told that the service had been organized by the Dutch government, the Royal Dutch Ship Owners Association KVNR, and Arbo Unie.
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Source: Seatrade Maritime News
