Market vendors are required to present their vaccination cards to prove their vaccination status otherwise forfeit their spaces as was the case for nearly 1600 vendors.
A total of 1599 vendors spread across the 15 municipal markets in Fiji have been refused entry and disallowed from selling their produce from any of the markets because they were not vaccinated.
Enforcing the Fijian Government’s No Jab No Job policy effective from 1 August, Fiji’s Minister for Local Government Premila Kumar said all vendors were given ample notice about the policy’.
The Ministry of Health also facilitated the directive by way of organising vaccination at convenient locations, including drive-through jab sites and deployed mobile teams that carried out vaccination in residential areas as well as made home visitations.
Kumar said the restrictions are necessary for the protection of all and largely because of the nature of vendors’ business which involves interacting with people from all walks of life on a daily basis.
‘‘We cannot be complacent towards this virus as it is a matter of life and death. We all have a huge responsibility towards ensuring that COVID safe measures are in place for the safety of all Fijians as vaccination is the only way to protect ourselves from the deadly virus,” Kumar said.
As of yesterday, 67% of market vendors in the country, including all vendors from Sigatoka, Lami, Valelevu, Makoi and Korovou, have received at least a dose of the vaccine.
Furthermore, all vendors are required to be fully vaccinated by 1 November to retain their selling space.
