Employers must be flexible throughout vaccine rollout – Farrell

Employers and businesses must ensure employees are not prevented from attending vaccination appointments due to work commitments, a Fine Gael TD has said.

Dublin Fingal TD Alan Farrell said, “The effective rollout of the vaccination programme is fundamental to the safe reopening of society and the economy. It is therefore vital that everyone gets vaccinated when they are offered an appointment, sparing exceptional circumstances.

“We should not tolerate businesses pressuring employees to rearrange appointments to fit around working hours. This will not benefit any party, be it the employee, local communities or indeed the business itself.

“We all have a responsibility to limit the spread of the virus and ensure that we emerge from the pandemic without unnecessary delays. Our vaccine rollout is well underway, with online registration now open for people aged 49.

“Inevitably, employees will be required to miss some working hours in order to receive their vaccine. This is the right and logical process to follow.

“Some people will also experience flu-like symptoms or other minor side-effects following their vaccine and will sometimes be unfit for work the next day. I believe that employers should be as flexible as possible in these scenarios as the vaccine rollout represents the best hope for an overall end to widescale business disruption.

“The vaccine rollout is continuing in earnest and I am optimistic that thanks to the hard work of our healthcare professionals, we can achieve our vaccination goals,” concluded Deputy Farrell.