Vaccination programme starts on Genting cruiseship
Genting Cruise Lines has begun vaccinating crew working on board its Dream Cruises vessels based in Taiwan, but shipmanagers say vaccinating the entire maritime workforce will prove more challenging.
The crew of the 75,300-gt cruiseship Explorer Dream began receiving their first vaccinations shots in Keelung last Friday. Crew and shore staff were given their first shots at the Keelung Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Kent Zhu, president of Gentings Cruise Lines said the vaccination was possible because the Central Epidemic Command Center of Taiwan had included the crew as part of its larger vaccination programme.
Shipmanagers have long been calling for mariners to be prioritised for vaccination, and have called the programme a step in the right direction, but say that there’s much more to be done if effective protection is to be achieved globally and throughout the entire maritime workforce.
