Sea Harvest hosts Western Cape Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC, David Maynier at its Vaccination Centre
A delegation of officials from the Western Cape Government, including Finance and Economic Opportunities MEC, David Maynier, visited Sea Harvest’s COVID-19 Vaccination Centre today. The Centre opened its doors for the first time on 23 July 2021 when the first doses of the Pfizer vaccine were received by the company. Since then, more than 800 Sea Harvest employees have been vaccinated at the centre.
MEC Maynier commented that, “It is encouraging to see how many Sea Harvest employees have responded positively following the company’s efforts to ensure their well-being by establishing a workplace vaccination site. The Sea Harvest Vaccination Centre is another example of how the private sector are stepping up to assist government in a successful Covid-19 vaccination rollout in the Western Cape. I encourage everyone to get their vaccination as soon as possible to protect yourself, your family and your community from Covid-19. In the end our economic recovery depends on vaccinating as many people, as fast as possible, because with more jabs, there will be more jobs in the Western Cape.”
Sea Harvest Operations Director, Terence Brown, says, “The opening of the Vaccination Centre follows a commitment by the Sea Harvest Board and executive leadership to support the rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine to our employees and the greater community in which we operate. We had to adhere to a very rigorous process to secure Sea Harvest’s approval as a Master Facility for vaccinations. As a result, we have employer access to government’s Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS) in order to register our employees for the vaccine or to link our employees’ details to our vaccination facility, once they have given us permission to do so. In addition, our registration allows us to administer vaccinations on our premises utilising our additional medical staff over and above our primary and occupational health facilities.”
According to Brown, while the vaccination is not mandatory and Sea Harvest employees have a choice whether they would like to be vaccinated or not, they are encouraged through ongoing communication and factual Department of Health information to opt for the vaccine. “We want to reach the level of community immunity. However, to be vaccinated at Sea Harvest’s vaccination facility, our employees have to provide the company with the consent to register them for the vaccine or to use their information to link it to the Sea Harvest Vaccination Centre. Once this is done, they can be vaccinated according to our own internal schedule,” explains Brown.
More than 90% of Sea Harvest employees, who returned vaccination consent forms, agreed to be vaccinated. The company has indicated that vaccines will be ordered as needed so that vaccinations can continue as long as it is required, especially to accommodate late adopters.
