The International Chamber of Shipping is calling for
governments to put seafarers and frontline maritime shore workers at the head
of the vaccine queue and to designate seafarers as key workers, to avoid a
repeat of the challenges seafarers faced in 2020.
ICS is demanding that governments, who are once again
restricting travel as a reaction to new COVID-19 mutations, recognize the vital
role seafarers play in the global supply chain. The union is highlighting the
importance of healthy seafarers in keeping nations supplied with vital goods,
including medical supplies such as syringes and the personal protective
equipment (PPE) that continue to be vital in the efforts to combat COVID-19.
“The benefits of vaccinating those responsible for
transporting the vaccine and PPE around the world should be obvious,” says Guy
Platten, Secretary General of the ICS. “Governments must class seafarers as key
workers and give them priority access to the vaccine. If we want to maintain
global trade, seafarers must not be put to the back of the vaccine queue.
Governments will not be able to inject their citizens without the shipping
industry or, most importantly, our seafarers.”
The ICS highlighted that the nature of shipping demonstrates
the special requirements to vaccinate seafarers. The average ship has a mix of
at least three nationalities on board, and sometimes as many as thirty says the
ICS. This, they say makes the possibility of vaccinating by nationality, which
is the current model of vaccine distribution, challenging. Priority access to
vaccines for all seafarers, and clear ‘vaccine passport’ protocols in line with
World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations, is seen as vital to the
maintenance of global trade.
While more than 40 countries have so far recognized
seafarers as key workers, the ICS highlights that the majority of seafaring
nations have not, creating a growing demand from within the industry for new
solutions to the issue of vaccine distribution, before the humanitarian crisis
facing seafarers gets any worse. With the spread of new variants of COVID-19 in
Brazil, South Africa, and the UK contributing to stricter crew change
restrictions globally, the ICS fears that the challenges encountered in 2020
will only grow more severe for seafarers in the coming months.
The ICS is seeking to remind governments that seafarers have
been caught at sea. Overrunning their contacts and raising concerns over ship
safety, crew fatigue, and access to healthcare. Without support from
governments, recognition as key workers, and priority for vaccines, the ICS is
concerned that, under new restrictions, the situation for seafarers will only
get worse as efforts are renewed seeking to again contain and mitigate the
spread of the virus.