Retail workers are at the frontline, must be prioritised for Covid-19 jab

Government’s Covid-19 vaccine plan should include retail workers, who remain among the most vulnerable as their essential service of interacting with customers has continued throughout the lockdown, said experts.

The Covid-19 vaccination programme’s priority strategy is targeting the most essential and vulnerable, starting with frontline healthcare workers and over 60s, moving to teachers, over 50s, and now members of the police force. Yet, it seems government has forgotten other essential workers, such as retail workers and others who have ensured our shelves stay stocked and our food supply is secure, said Professor Alex van den Heever, chair of social security systems administration and management and Wits University.

“What has tended to happen is that government workers have basically been prioritised. Apart from healthcare workers, who are an obvious group that needs to be protected…”

“When you start to look at the rest of our working environment, the people who have to come to work and who can’t work from home and have to interact with other people are the high-risk people. It doesn’t matter whether private sector or public sector – we need people in the retail sector and they are highly vulnerable. They have to travel by taxi to and from work – so they are a priority,” said van den Heever.

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From the moment the lockdown started on 27 March 2000, essential services such as clothing shops and supermarkets remained open, with workers dealing with customers throughout the day, including on public and religious holidays.

While retail workers in the country have now declined to 2.8 million due to the pandemic, they still made up 22% of the workforce of the economy, said president of the National Union of Retail Workers of South Africa Victor Legoba.

He said they were disappointed in government, as food provision was an essential service, yet those who interacted with customers on a daily basis seemed not to be prioritised.

“Our very disappointment is that the government does not take retail workers very seriously. Their lives are at risk and they get into contact, day-by-day, with customers. Food is an essential service. The government must at least vaccinate our people,” said Legoba.

And it is not only retail workers, but anyone whose job is to keep the economy afloat, including taxi drivers, retail workers, and mine workers, should be higher up on the waiting list, said president of the South African Medical Research Council Professor Glenda Gray.

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“Retail workers should be registering for the Covid-19 vaccine anyway, and hopefully their industry is going to take care of it. [Vaccination] could possibly open up for over 40s very soon and then over 30s and hopefully the retail industry could talk with the government to try and protect their workers,” she said.

rorisangk@citizen.co.za