COVID-19: MTN staff who refuse mandatory vaccination risk losing jobs
All persons holding top executive positions across all operations and subsidiaries of the MTN Group have been given a deadline to take Covid-19 vaccination and show proof of same or risk losing their contracts.
The source, who is an executive himself, said he is yet to take his own shot, adding that he had wanted to look for the type of vaccine that he will take once, but because the deadline is fast approaching, he has decided to take the two jabs with immediate effect.
It would be recalled that earlier this month, the MTN Group announced that beginning January 2022, Covid-19 vaccination was going to be mandatory for all of its staff across all operations and subsidiaries.
In a statement, the telecoms giant said, “As part of our commitment to protect the health and safety of our people and workplaces, as well as contribute towards the rate of COVID-19 vaccinations across our markets, MTN Group will be implementing a mandatory vaccination policy for staff from January 2022.”
It noted that the new vaccine policy is a measure to meet its legal obligations with regards to providing a safe workplace and shall be subject to risk assessment and local laws that apply to the MTN Group and its operating companies and subsidiaries.
It however recognized the right of employees to apply to be exempted from the policy and/or refuse vaccination on certain clearly defined grounds.
“For those staff who are not exempt from vaccinations either through risk assessment or agreed exclusions but still refuse vaccination, MTN will not be obliged to continue the employment contract,” the statement cautioned.
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The statement quoted group President and CEO, Ralph Mupita as saying that “The science is clear – Vaccination against COVID-19 reduces rates of serious infections, hospitalization, and death.”
He stated that, as an employer, MTN has a responsibility to ensure that its workplaces are guided by the highest standards of health and safety, and that has informed the company’s decision to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for its staff.
“Our new COVID-19 policy recognises that some of our markets don’t have adequate access to vaccines. It also recognises some low-risk roles that will be accommodated with full-time work-from-home or alternate arrangements, but this will be a small population within our workforce,” he added.
Both the World Health Organization and the Africa Centre for Disease Control advocate for vaccines – saying that they are an important measure to protect people. The global rollout of vaccinations since 2020 has clearly contributed to the containment and management of the virus in many countries.
“Vaccine equity continues to be a major issue for African countries. As MTN, we add our voice to the calls for more vaccines to be made available to African countries, as herd immunity will only happen when the whole globe has reached a sufficient level of COVID-19 vaccination,” said Mupita.
“The latest travel bans on African countries by developed nations are not based on science, are unjust and add to the lack of support for Africa that is much needed for an effective global response to the pandemic. African countries are being punished for the very transparency that’s actually needed to successfully combat the impact on lives and livelihoods of the COVID-19 virus,” he added.
The latest data shows that across the continent, only 7% of Africans have been fully vaccinated. This compares with a global population vaccination rate of 55%.
The new mandatory vaccination policy follows the Group’s US$25 million donation to the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.
In Ghana MTN donated GHS5 million worth of equipment, PPES and other consumables to the National Covid-19 Trust Fund in the early pre-vaccine days of the outbreak. It added another GHS5million cash just recently to assist government in the vaccination program.
Meanwhile, MTN had earlier brought in some 167,000 Covid vaccines to support government in the fight. This was in addition to its own WearItForme face mask campaign among other activities.
