13
April
2021
|
16:26
Europe/Amsterdam

MAN prepares for Covid-19 vaccinations and provides its workforce with rapid corona tests

  • Planning for Covid-19 vaccinations in plants
  • Issuance of up to two self-tests per week
  • Comprehensive testing concept for suspected infections

 

MAN Truck & Bus is already offering self-tests to employees to complement the test strategy of the company’s medical services. Vaccination preparations under way.

The company fully supports the aim to quickly immunize as many people as as possible. For this reason, the company will also take the step of offering vaccinations to employees through its medical services as soon as this option becomes available. The company has already informed political leaders about its vaccination plans.

“We are integrating ourselves in Germany’s national vaccination strategy and want to do our part to achieve rapid vaccination coverage of the population,” said Dr. Oliver Breitkopf, the Head of Company Medical Services at MAN Truck & Bus. The company’s declared goal is to provide these vaccinations as quickly as possible. MAN has already completed the necessary preparations. As part of this work, it has set up refrigeration facilities, purchased the necessary consumable supplies and precisely planned all logistical processes. “We could start vaccinating plant workers tomorrow if we had our way,” Dr. Breitkopf said. “But we are not elbowing our way to the head of the line. When the vaccine is provided to us as part of the national vaccination strategy, we will immediately and very gladly do our part.”

Until then, MAN Truck & Bus is carrying out a comprehensive infection-prevention strategy. As part of this work, the company started at the beginning of the week to provide all employees who are required to work on the company’s premises with one to two self-tests a week. In taking this step, the company acted before political leaders imposed a testing requirement on companies. Employees can test themselves either on the job or at home.

The self-tests complement the tests already being done by the company’s medical services – both PCR and rapid antigen tests. This is part of the company’s comprehensive testing concept to track down suspected and confirmed infections among employees and disrupt chains of infection at an early stage.

“From the very start of the pandemic, our main goal has been to prevent employees from becoming infected and to help slow the spread of Covid-19,” Dr. Breitkopf said. “This is why we made our comprehensive prevention concept a top priority at the very beginning and welcome any measures that will help increase safety and maintain the ability of industry to operate.” In many areas, the rules that apply on the company’s premises are stricter than those that apply outside them.