Food delivery riders, e-hailing drivers should be vaccinated next

0

KOTA KINABALU: After the frontliners and the elderly have been administered Covid-19 vaccines, food delivery riders and e-hailing drivers need to be listed as the priority vaccination group in the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, said Datuk Richard Yong We Kong.

The Sabah Progressive Party (SAPP) Secretary-General said  e-hailing and food delivery workers are frequently having contacts with various groups and areas in their daily works, and they are also prone to gather in group with their peers when waiting for orders.

“They are obliged to get vaccinated fast,” he said in a statement on Saturday.

As more vaccine doses are available, he said the Sabah Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), chaired by the State Secretary, need to focus on vaccinating people whose work requires high mobility and wide contacts.

He said if all drivers have been vaccinated, whether on-call or traditional taxis, they will be able to operate more flexibly and passengers will feel at ease, which embodies the slogan of “Protect oneself, protect others (#LindungDiriLindungSemua)”.

With batches of vaccines are in the pipeline to arrive in Sabah, Yong said CITF should hasten the vaccination with proper strategy.

According to the records of the Sabah E-hailing Drivers Association, there are currently about 10,000 registered e-hailing drivers across the state, most of them are in urban areas.