vaccine – anabenonline

The National Youths Service Corps, NYSC has revealed that as from January 2022, only fully vaccinated Prospective Corps Members (PCMs) will be allowed to register and partake in the scheme.

“From the next orientation in the year 2022, all incoming PCMs will show evidence of vaccination before they will be allowed into the camp for registration.

“We want to ensure that we adhere strictly to the non-pharmaceutical safety protocols of COVID-19,’’ the Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Shuaibu Ibrahim, said on Monday in Abuja.

He said this while addressing the 2021 Batch “C’’ Stream II set of corps members in a virtual meeting.

Mr Emeka Mgbemena, NYSC’s spokesman said in a statement that the director-general gave the order in the face of reported cases of the Omicron variant of the Corona virus in Nigeria.

Ibrahim said that the scheme would not let down its guard of ensuring strict adherence to the COVID-19 safety protocols.

“I commend the Federal Government, the Presidential Steering Committee on COVID-19, the National Centre for Disease Control, and other stakeholders for the success of the 2021 Batch “C’’ Stream II orientation course,’’ Ibrahim was quoted as saying.

He also advised the Batch C Stream 2 set of corpers to, as they leave orientation camp on Dec. 14, not desist from the skills learned during the orientation course, as this would make them to become business owners, instead of job seekers.

He also assured that the scheme, in partnership with the CBN, Access Bank, Bank of Industry, the NYSC Foundation, and Heritage Bank, would support corps members with good business proposals with soft loans.

“Efforts are on-going for the establishment of the NYSC Trust Fund which will make more funds available for every willing corps member to start their businesses as they exit service.

“NYSC is a platform for those that are very serious. Please take the skills acquisition seriously and ensure you register for the post-camp training.

“I can assure you that our partners are ready to support us to ensure that the start-up capitals are made available to corps members,’’ Ibrahim said.

While advising corp members to carry out personal projects that they could execute within the service year, he advised them to not borrow money to fund the project, as they were to source funds for personal projects from their locality.

“Make sure you call on the traditional rulers, leaders, and youths so that they can support your project. Do not borrow money because you want to win national honours award,’’ the director-general admonished.

MTN to implement mandatory vaccination for its staff

To combat the Covid-19 Omicron variant which rages across the world, the MTN Group has disclosed its intention to implement a mandatory vaccination policy for every one of its staff. The policy was to take effect from January 2022.

This was announced by the Group’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Nupita. He explained that the Group was out to protect the health and safety of people and workplaces.
He said vaccination would reduce the rates of serious infections, hospitalisation, and death.

He said: “As an employer, we have a responsibility to ensure that our workplaces are guided by the highest standards of health and safety, and that has informed our decision to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory for our staff.

“Our new COVID-19 policy recognises that some of our markets don’t have adequate access to vaccines. It also recognises some low-risk roles that will be accommodated with full-time work-from-home or alternate arrangements, but this will be a small population within our workforce.”

He further pointed out that both the World Health Organisation, WHO, and the Africa Centres for Disease Control, advocate vaccines, with the reason that they were an important measure to protect people.

He emphasised that global vaccinations since 2020 had helped in containing and managing the virus in many countries.

“Vaccine equity continues to be a major issue for African countries. As MTN, we add our voice to the calls for more vaccines to be made available to African countries, as herd immunity will only happen when the whole globe has reached a sufficient level of COVID-19 vaccination.

“The latest travel bans on African countries by developed nations are not based on science, are unjust and add to the lack of support for Africa that is much needed for an effective global response to the pandemic. African countries are being punished for the very transparency that’s actually needed to successfully combat the impact on lives and livelihoods of the COVID-19 virus,’’ he said.

He noted that out of the global population vaccination rate of 55 per cent, only seven per cent of Africans had been vaccinated.
He said, “The fight against COVID-19 needs a global, comprehensive and equitable allocation of vaccines.”

He added that the MTN Group’s new vaccine policy is a measure to meet MTN’s legal obligations in regard to providing a safe workplace and shall be subject to risk assessment and local laws that apply to the MTN Group and our operating companies and subsidiaries.

“It also recognises the right of employees to apply to be exempted from the policy and/or refuse vaccination on certain clearly defined grounds.

“For those staff who are not exempt from vaccinations either through risk assessment or agreed to exclusions but still refuse vaccination, MTN will not be obliged to continue the employment contract.”

The new mandatory vaccination policy follows the Group’s US$25 million donations to the African Union’s COVID-19 vaccination programme.

Prepare for likely spread of Omicron—– WHO to countries