Calls have been made for Covid booster sites to be made available at truck stops, service stations and transport hubs around the country.
Southport MP Damien Moore is calling on the Government to make more vaccination facilities available for those working in the transport industry, after recent ONS figures revealed a lower than average take-up for HGV drivers, taxi drivers, van drivers and others.
Mr Damien Moore has written to the Secretaries of State for Transport and for Health and Social Care to outline his concerns, and to ensure that this vital sector is not overlooked in the rollout of vaccines.
According to data published by the ONS late last year, just 43.9% of those in the sector aged 40-64 had had their third jab, compared to a much higher 58.4% of those in the secretarial sector. For taxi and cab drivers in particular, the ONS estimates that just 40.3% had had their third jab, along with 42.8% of van drivers.
Mr Moore’s article for The Times Red Box, in which he urges the establishing of Covid booster sites at truck stops, service stations, and transport hubs around the country to help those in the transport industry get the vaccinations they need, was published this morning.
Damien Moore MP said: “Those in the transport sector help to feed our country, help to connect it, and help to protect it. They are part of the great frontline effort against Covid and have allowed us to keep our nation moving at a time of deep social and economic uncertainty.
“The evidence, however, suggests those in the industry, including train, tram and bus drivers; airport baggage handlers; HGV drivers; forklift operators; and taxi drivers are amongst those with the lowest uptake in getting a ‘booster’ vaccine, with only 43.9% of workers estimated to have had a third dose.
“That statistic is far below the 58.4% of those in the secretarial sector, for example. Most workers in the transport sector do want to get the booster vaccine and play their part in defeating Covid.
However, in order to achieve that feat, we must recognise that those working in this industry often work unsociable, long hours away from home, moving goods and people across our country, and we must put measures in place to make the vaccine more accessible according to their availability and placement.
“Inevitably, for every worker in the transport industry that falls ill to Covid, hundreds of businesses struggle to meet customer demand, more train services are cancelled, and more products fail to reach our supermarket shelves. If we are to keep this country moving, we must prioritise those in the transportation industry, a sector already struggling to cope under the pressures of both an absence in workforce numbers and delays in licensing applications and renewals.
“I urge the Government to look at the feasibility of setting up Covid booster sites at truck stops,
service stations, and transport hubs around the country to help those in the transport industry get the vaccinations they need to continue keeping our country moving during these turbulent times. The alternative is to consign ourselves to the predictability of a lower uptake of the vaccination in one of our key industries and the inevitability of more cancellations in the transport of goods, services, and people.”
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