PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has welcomed a decision by the state’s Chief Health Officer’s (CHO) to approve vaccinations for fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) and drive-in, drive-out (DIDO) workers, in a move designed to increase protection for regional communities from the more infectious Delta strain of the Covid virus.
QRC CEO Ian Macfarlane said vaccinating FIFO and DIDO workers is an important step amongst a range of initiatives underway to protect regional communities from Covid.
Macfarlane said opening up priority access to vaccinations for FIFO and DIDO workers is another step towards making regional areas safer and will help reduce community concerns about resources employees travelling to and from work from different areas.
“At this stage, Queensland’s vaccination roll-out is driven by the availability of vaccine supplies, which are steadily increasing, but the QRC has made it clear to government that vaccinating resources communities remains a high priority,” he said.
“The QRC will continue to advocate for resources communities to be vaccinated as soon as supplies become available.”
Macfarlane said the resources sector will continue to observe all Covid-19 protocols as outlined by the CHO and keep encouraging resources companies to maintain their high standards.
“The QRC is in constant contact with all relevant government agencies to ensure the sector is doing everything it can to keep the industry’s workforce and regional communities safe from Covid,” he said.