” Employers have an obligation to
provide a safe working environment,
and employees have an obligation to
assist their employer to provide that
safe working environment.”
FINLANDS SJÖFART J SUOMEN MERENKULKU 49
to be added to the list of vaccines required for profes-sionals
working with vulnerable people.
Trent Hancock, employment lawyer and principal of
Jewell Hancock Employment Lawyers, told LSJ that it
would be reasonable under Australia’s Biosecurity Act
to require employees to be vaccinated to ensure the
safety for all workers. ’Employers have an obligation to
provide a safe working environment, and employees
have an obligation to assist their employer to provide
that safe working environment.
Alan Joyce, chief executive of Qantas Airways, an
Australian airline, told Bloomberg News in November
that proof of Covid-19 vaccination would be a condi-tion
for travellers entering or leaving Australia on the
carrier’s planes.
To date, no country has made Covid-19 inoculation
compulsory or said it would be required for people
crossing borders.
However, on 4 January 2021, Israel’s coronavirus
commissioner, Professor Nachman Ash, demonstrated
the proposed design for a ’green passport’ app that will
allow people who have received the vaccine to travel
abroad without having to quarantine and give access
to cultural and sports events, the Jerusalem Post
reported.
An approved vaccination could become mandatory
for Schengen Visa applications in the European Union,
SchengenVisaInfo reported in April 2020. An unnamed
EU official confirmed that once vaccines were ap-proved,
and available for all, visa applicants would
also be required to be vaccinated in future.
The EU is expected to debate the issue in mid-Janu-ary
after Greece pressed for an agreement. Cyprus,
Denmark, and Hungary are all reported to be in favour.
Travel insurance providers have since indicated
that, if the EU mandates vaccinations for entering its
borders, they may refuse to cover people without it.
AXA, a French multinational insurance firm headquar-tered
in Paris, said it would refuse coverage to those
who have not taken the vaccine, if the EU member
states make it obligatory for travellers.
A coalition of global technology firms, including
Microsoft and Oracle. are reportedly working on a
digital Covid ‘vaccination passport’, which they reckon
can help people return to travel, work and education,
the Financial Times reported on 15 January.
THE RETURN OF CRUISE?
For cruise operators, which have been some of the
worst-hit in the maritime industry by the pandemic,
Covid-19 vaccinations inspire confidence in customers
and regulators alike and signal the possibility of a
return to business as usual in 2021.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) said vaccines could help mitigate the spread of
Covid-19 on cruise ships, which have been banned
from sailing in US waters since March 2019. •
Covid-19 vaccine FAQs
WILL I BE PRIORITISED FOR A COVID-19 VACCINE?
Nautilus is campaigning globally to get seafarers
vaccinated along with other key workers. In all countries
with the vaccine, decisions around prioritising seafarers
outside of the clinical priority groups have not been
finalised, but we believe that the benefits of offering the
vaccine to seafarers include protecting supply lines and
putting an end to the crew change crisis. In the UK,
Nautilus has written to the Secretary of State for Health
Matthew Hancock setting out the case for seafarers to
be prioritised. The Netherlands and Switzerland
branches continue to monitor the situation there.
WHEN COULD I GET A VACCINE?
Seafarers who are prioritised due to clinical need (i.e.
age) will be offered the vaccine as part of government
programmes.
SHOULD MY EMPLOYER PAY FOR A VACCINATION?
At present, supplies of vaccines have been ordered by
governments and will be offered to populations on a
priority basis. In future, once the rollout to high priority
groups has been completed, we would expect that
where a seafarer who did not have a clinical need to
have the vaccine but required it for work purposes – e.g.
it was a requirement for travel to a certain country –
then the employer would pay for a private vaccine in the
same way as they would with yellow fever.
HOW WILL I PROVIDE PROOF OF VACCINATION?
As of the end of January 2021, no country requires proof
of Covid-19 vaccination, however many countries insist
on proof of vaccinations for diseases such as yellow
fever or polio, which is in the form of an International
Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis (ICVP). Apps or
other solutions may be developed to replace the paper
certificate. •