By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE vaccination rates amongst contractor and service company workers visiting the Energy Chamber’s Learning Centre in Point Lisas is approaching 80%.
In a press release on Monday, the Energy Chamber stated that the vaccination rate was 77% during the last week of November and averaged 73% over the entire month.
All workers who enter the facilities of any of the Point Lisas plants and the Atlantic facility in Point Fortin have to undertake an assessment of their basic Health and Safety Executive knowledge every two years (PLEA Pass) at the Energy Chamber Learning Centre.
The Energy Chamber has been collecting data on the vaccination status of all visitors to the centre since July 2021 and there has been a steady rise in the rate of workers stating that they are fully vaccinated, the Chamber stated.
The chamber said, “With many of the plants enforcing vaccinations or regular testing for contractor workers entering their facilities, there has been increased impetus for workers to get vaccinated if they are to secure employment. Many of the workers are employed on a project basis and increasingly employers are asking for vaccination status before they take on a worker for a specific project.”
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Energy Chamber Dax Driver said, “With the recent increases in the infection rates, it is good to see that the vaccination rate of workers visiting the Learning Centre is consistently increasing over time. Given the universal availability of vaccines and the mass vaccination programmes we ran earlier this year, we would have hoped to see this rate close to 100% by now.”
He added, “Nevertheless, it is good to see that more and more workers are overcoming their hesitancy and realising that giving in to the anti-vaccine disinformation campaigns can have serious implications for their health.”
Driver said the Chamber was seriously concerned about protecting the health and safety of all workers in the industry and vaccinations were the best barrier to prevent people from becoming seriously ill or dying from Covid and for reducing the possibility of them passing along the disease to family or friends.
“I urge those workers still not vaccinated to make the logical decision to protect themselves and their families as a matter of urgency,” the CEO said.
