Flow staging vaccination blitz for staff, tourism players tomorrow

almost 3 years in Jamaica Observer

Communications and entertainment provider Flow will tomorrow stage a COVID-19 vaccination blitz for its staff as it continues giving support to the national vaccination programme.The blitz is being staged in partnership with the Private Sector Vaccination Initiative (PSVI) and Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston which will also serve as the venue.According to Flow Jamaica General Manager and Vice-President Stephen Price, the company is focused on protecting its team members as well as their families. As such, each Flow team member and contractor and up to four dependents will receive their first or second vaccine dose.Additionally, registered employees of C&WJ Credit Union, the Courtleigh Hospitality Group - which comprises Jamaica Pegasus hotel, The Courtleigh Hotel & Suites, and Knutsford Court hotel - and other invited tourism players will be able to receive their first or second dose at the blitz."We believe that vaccination is critical and the most effective way to protect our employees, our customers, and the broader community. As an employer, we have a role to play in ensuring that our team is not only provided with the facts about vaccination, but also that we facilitate the process for them and their dependents," a Flow news release quotes Price."Having suffered personal loss as a result of COVID-19, I'm acutely aware of how important it is to do all that I can to keep my family and team as safe as possible. Our Flow family has also suffered loss and so we are doing our part and encouraging fellow Jamaicans to get vaccinated," he said."We are fully supporting the national vaccination efforts. The more persons are vaccinated, the sooner we will see the back of this pandemic and our country will be further along the road to recovery," Price added.Phadra Saunders, people director at Flow, said the company has continued to inform and support its team throughout the novel coronavirus pandemic. An internal vaccination campaign is under way through which stats and facts from the Ministry of Health and Wellness and the PSVI are shared while team members are encouraged to get vaccinated."We also have weekly live streams where we discuss the pandemic and vaccination. We promote the national vaccination blitzes and other relevant information via weekly team updates and also prioritise time off for team members to get vaccinated," Saunders shared.In July, the company invited Dr Melody Ennis, director of family health services at the health and wellness ministry, to discuss vaccination and address the concerns of team members."Our leadership and team members also encourage vaccination by sharing their own testimonials about why they chose to be vaccinated," Saunders said. "Ninety-six of our team members got their first dose at the PSVI pilot and we have over 500 persons, including permanent employees, employees on fixed-term contracts, as well as contractors who work on our behalf registered for Monday's blitz."Kevin Hendrickson, managing director for The Courtleigh Hospitality Group, said that the protection of lives and livelihoods was the foremost concern in his company when it decided to host the vaccination blitz at Jamaica Pegasus."Working with our partners Flow and the PSVI, we wanted to ensure that we provided an efficient and convenient way for our team members, their families as well as other tourism stakeholders to protect themselves. Together everyone wins in this fight against COVID, and helping our team members as well as taxi drivers, craft vendors, security guards and other tourism players to access this service was an easy decision," Hendrickson said.Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett praised the initiative, stating that it is extremely important because the future success of Jamaica's tourism sector hinges on the workers being vaccinated."The fact of the matter is, vaccination holds the hope for tourism's full recovery. In addition to COVID-19 protocols, it is the only comprehensive way to fight the pandemic and save lives. I am therefore encouraging every worker in the tourism and hospitality industry to do your part and get vaccinated," Bartlett said.The blitz, which is closed to the general public, will start at 10:00 am and will run until 6:00 pm for registered individuals only.

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