Emirates airline offers COVID-19 vaccines to staff

 Emirates airline offers COVID-19 vaccines to staff

DUBAI (Reuters 18 Jan 2021) - Emirates airline on Monday started offering employees vaccinations against the COVID-19 disease with priority given to front-line workers such as cabin crew and pilots.

The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and another developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) are being made available to all employees in the United Arab Emirates, parent company Emirates Group said.

Both vaccines are already available to the general public in the United Arab Emirates with priority given to certain groups.

Emirates Group, which employs about 80,000 staff globally, also counts airport and travel services provider dnata among its assets, along with the state carrier.

Singapore on Monday urged workers at its national airline, Singapore Airlines (SIA), to help make it the world’s first carrier with all staff vaccinated against COVID-19.

The travel industry has been among the worst hit by the coronavirus crisis and a recent resurgence in global infections has driven down demand in some countries re-entering lockdowns.

Emirates President Tim Clark told Reuters on Jan. 13 he was confident the airlines entire fleet of 275 widebody jets would be in use by the end of the year despite the rise in global cases.

Reporting by Alexander Cornwell