After having dealt with several COVID clusters linked to the
activity in the port, Singapore announced that it will prioritize maritime
personnel to receive vaccinations this month. Singapore expects to become one
of the first countries to inoculate the maritime sector while calls are going
in other parts of the world for similar efforts.
Recognizing that frontline maritime personnel at the port
are coming in contact with people from outside of Singapore, the authorities
said the effort was designed to protect the employees, their families, and the
broader community while also maintaining the import business sector. Over
10,000 frontline maritime personnel are expected to be vaccinated for COVID-19
by the end of January during what the Singapore authorities are calling the Sea
- Air Vaccination Exercise (SAVE).
Among the front line personnel being prioritized in the SAVE
program are port workers, harbor pilots, cargo officers, marine surveyors, and
marine superintendents. The program includes people involved in navigation,
refueling, ship repair, and maintenance, as well as cargo handling. Harbor
craft and ocean-going crews who are Singaporeans and long-term residents living
in the community are also prioritized for vaccination.
In the past few days, Singapore reports that more than 700
personnel have been vaccinated. An additional 6,000 registrations have also
been received by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) for
vaccinations to be administered this week.
“We rely on our frontline maritime personnel for the
transportation of what we need every day, including food, medical supplies, and
consumer goods,” said Quah Ley Hoon, Chief Executive of MPA announcing this
initiative. “We hope that the vaccination can give them peace of mind when they
perform their work onboard ships. This will provide an additional layer of
protection, and keep their family and the community safe. We strongly encourage
them to come forward for early vaccination.”
Once the maritime workers have completed their full
vaccination course, the MPA said they will also reduce the testing requirements
due to the better protection offered by vaccination. Initially, the testing
routines will be relaxed so that individuals who had been required to test
weekly will be tested every other week and those who were being tested every
14-days will now be tested once a month.
Singapore’s vaccination program for the maritime sector came
as the British Ports Association also called for essential port workers to be
given priority during the rollout of the coronavirus vaccine. The BPA says that
there are 115,000 people directly employed in the UK ports industry and that
they are vital to keeping the ports functioning and maintaining trade.
“Following the completion of phase one of the vaccination
rollout, we strongly urge the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation to
include port workers, and in particular, those in key "pinch point"
roles to be prioritized as a matter of urgency,” said Sara Walsh, Head of
Corporate Services at the British Ports Association. “We are talking about the
unsung heroes who keep the county supplied, from marine pilots to cutter crew,
crane and plant operators, vessel traffic service operators, tug operators,
quayside operators, stevedores, and linesmen.”
The BPA highlighted that the vast majority of ports in the
UK have been able to maintain operations throughout the pandemic, but that
there is an increasing concern within the sector about the surge of infection
rates. As a consequence, the BPA says the number of employees who are having to
self-isolate, whether that be because they have tested positive or are a close
contact with someone who has, increased rapidly in certain parts of the
country. As has been widely reported, the UK in December discovered a mutation
of the virus that it believes is far more communicable than earlier strains of
the coronavirus.