The Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) President, Comrade Ayuba Wabba, has advised the federal government to use persuasion and conviction rather than coercion to persuade workers and the general public to take the COVID-19 vaccination.
Wabba made this known in Abuja on Monday while speaking on the importance of employees receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, urged the government and other employers of labour to make specific arrangements for workers to receive the vaccine at work.
According to Wabba, the COVID-9 epidemic has resulted in some of the worst workplace strains, stress, and squeeze, with thousands of people dying.
He pointed out that many of the dead in the global workforce were frontline workers.
As of the third week of October 2021, COV1D-19 had killed about 180,000 health workers around the world.
While the high number of fatalities is tragic, Wabba believes it highlights the sacrifices made by workers in combating and restricting this deadly virus, as well as the fact that many more workers have lost their jobs and livelihood as a result of COVID-19.
According to him ; “The biggest lesson of the pandemic is that amidst the worst crisis, the human race can rise to the challenge with great resourcefulness and resilience”.
“Apart from accelerated scientific efforts at understanding the epidemiology of the virus, science has raised the bar a little higher with the breakthrough discovery of a vaccine for COVID-19 which has helped reduce the death rate and hospital admissions.”
“A study conducted by the United States Centre for Disease Control at the end of May 2021 shows that there was about 63% drop in hospital visitations after the introduction of the COM-19 vaccine. There was also a 63% drop in hospital admissions post-vaccination and 66% drop in mortality for those aged 18 – 49 after the vaccination”.
“Understand some people prefer to view COVID-19 vaccination with caution. Yes, it is important to proceed on issues of public health with great caution. Yet, it would be foolhardy to elevate caution above scientific evidence and facts from public health records”.
He continued; “The truth is that despite being imperfect, the COVID-19 Vaccine has given all of us a better chance of fighting the virus and staying alive.
“I urge workers all over the world to take advantage of the COVID-19 vaccines and keep themselves, their families and their colleagues at work safe and free from the morbid threats of the corona pandemic.”
