The Shoprite Group has urgently called on the government to allow its more than 140 000 employees to receive vaccinations as the third wave of Covid-19 increases in severity.
Shoprite is South Africa’s largest private-sector employer. Its frontline employees serve over 25 million people a month. Shoprite will source and administer vaccines at its own cost, and through its own logistics and pharmaceutical infrastructure.
Although retail workers are classified as essential under the lockdown regulations, Cyril Ramaphosa, in his most recent nation-wide address identified the mining, manufacturing, and taxi industries to be next in line to receive vaccines after teachers and police officers.
“Our frontline workers, including cashiers, merchandisers and line management retail workers, have been at work every day since the onset of the pandemic, working tirelessly to ensure we provide food, essential groceries and medicine to the nation,” Pieter Engelbrecht, Shoprite Group chief executive told Businesstech.
Engelbrecht said the group has a significant logistical and pharmaceutical distribution network to roll out vaccines to employees through Transpharm Pharmaceutical Distributors and pharmacy chain MediRite.
“As the last few weeks have shown, South Africa will continue to be vulnerable to future waves of Covid-19 until we have vaccinated a sufficient percentage of our population,” Engelbrecht said.
The government told the South African National Editors Forum this week that journalists would be prioritised next. However this has been criticised; petrol attendants, waiters and cashiers are more on the front line and should be given preference.
“Phase 2 was supposed to be essential workers… which includes us,” said Reggie Sibiya, CEO of the Fuel Retailers Association of South Africa.
“For us, clearly, the government is not speaking to its original rollout plan… The criteria for prioritisation are not transparent, they keep changing based on who makes the loudest noise,” Sibiya said.