PANAJI
The seafarer community is seeking priority for Covid-19 vaccination and has urged Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to categorise them as "frontline workers".
In a letter to Sawant, two leaders of the community -- Captain Elborne D'Silva of the Maritime Union of India and Captain Venzy Viegas of AAP -- have asked that seafarers be categorised as 'frontline workers' and prioritise vaccination.
They said the Union Shipping, Ports and Waterways Ministry has issued directives in early May to all major ports to commence vaccination centres for seafarers but MPT failed to follow it till date.
Since more than three weeks have been lost and seafarers, many of who have received calls of duty but are struggling to get vaccination appointments, prioritisation is essential, D'Silva and Viegas said in their letter to Sawant.
Since the State government had recently categorised a new set of workers like those employed in the pharma sector as frontline workers for vaccination priority, the same could be followed for seafarers, they said.
