By Monday Ocheja
Southern African Clothing & Textile Workers’ Union (SACTWU) says it is excited that a large number of its members are taking the COVID-19 vaccination in line with the union’s set target coverage.
“We are pleased with this progress, which brings us within reach of the 80% vaccination rate which our Framework Agreement sets as a target for our industry,” a statement by General Secretary of SACTWU, André Kriel says.
The General Secretary says the union is happy with the report from the monthly progress tracking meeting of the industry’s COVID Vaccination Rollout Co-ordinating Committee (CVRCC).
“We received a report about progress with implementation of our clothing industry COVID-19 Vaccination Rollout Campaign Framework Agreement which we had concluded earlier this year, with clothing sector employers.
“This Framework Agreement laid the basis of how we will build capacity to self-administer the vaccine to workers in our industry, using our industry’s worker health care clinic system,” he says.
According to him, the report “showed that, out of a sample of 33 906 persons registered with the clothing industry’s health care clinics, a total of 25 107 (or 74%) have now been vaccinated (as at yesterday).
“This compares well with the 35% vaccination rate in the country, as at yesterday.
“We are pleased with this progress, which brings us within reach of the 80% vaccination rate which our Framework Agreement sets as a target for our industry.
“The report also showed that out of 320 hospital admissions recorded, 295 (or 92%) were among workers who are not vaccinated, 21 (or 7%) were partially vaccinated and 4 (or 1%) were fully vaccinated.
“Similarly, the report showed that out of 56 COVID-19-related deaths recorded among clothing workers, 49 (or 88%) were among workers who were unvaccinated, 7 (or 13%) were partially vaccinated and 0 fully vaccinated.
“We will continue to encourage all our members to get vaccinated, in all sectors where we are organised,” the statement says.