The owner of the Yohannoff chain, Eitan Yohannoff, demands that the Ministry of Health immediately vaccinate the tens of thousands of employees of the food marketing chains: "Forget that we are at the forefront, the workers are afraid"
Facts at the Yochananoff branch in Modi'in
Photography:
Jonathan Saul
The owners of the Yochananoff chain, Eitan Yohannoff, sent a letter to the Ministry of Health and its senior officials, including Professors Hezi Levy and Itamar Grotto, in which he demanded the immediate vaccination of tens of thousands of employees of the food marketing chains.
In the letter, which was also sent to Corona Projector Dr. Nachman Ash and Dr. Sharon Elroi-Price, Yochananoff wrote that beyond personal risk, employees come into contact with a high number of customers and thus may become super distributors.
"For several days now, the State of Israel and the Ministry of Health, under your leadership, have been conducting an impressive and comprehensive immunization campaign designed to fight the corona virus, until eradication, when as of this writing, specific conditions have been set for the specific population eligible to be vaccinated."
"I appeal to you to determine that employees of food marketing chains, including Yohannoff, will be included in the population eligible for the vaccine, regardless of their age or medical condition."
Eitan Yohananoff told Israel Today: "We want to raise awareness of this important issue. We have been forgotten in the process, I call on the government to maintain the food workers industry. There are hundreds of thousands of workers in the industry."
Asked if they intend to take further action, he replied: "We have only just started, but we are trying to make as much noise as possible. It seems to us that they did not think of us and tactically it is very important. Millions of people pass through the whole country. Forget our workers. "He is becoming a distributor. They did not think properly about the process, so we intend to put pressure on them to address this issue."
On the fear of the workers, he said: "I stand at the checkout line of the Yad Eliyahu branch. One of the workers at the checkout is an elderly man wearing a mask over a mask and he also has gloves. This means the size of the workers' fear. Many cases happen in the industry "The news that there is a vaccine, we first gave the adults that this is the right thinking. The next in line should be employees of the industry. As mentioned, they come into contact with millions of people in the entire industry."
The Ministry of Health said in a response to the "vaccination campaign" to give a shoulder "advanced while on the move. At this stage, people aged 60 and over and chronic patients are vaccinated."
"We ask you to understand the size of the hour and vaccinate the employees immediately"
"Employees of food marketing chains, including Yohannoff, are defined as essential workers in operating the economy in times of emergency and indeed market basic products required in every home in Israel and as a result come into daily contact with tens and hundreds of thousands of citizens and many millions every week. "Places of entertainment, restaurants, food stalls and the borders of the State of Israel have been closed, leading to a situation in which Israeli citizens find the only place to sell food in food marketing chains, and therefore the number of citizens coming into contact with chain employees has increased significantly."
"From the beginning of the epidemic, a period of almost a whole year and even more so in each of the three closures imposed on the State of Israel during the period, Yochananoff employees, as well as employees of other food marketing chains, are at the forefront "And mobilization beyond work on weekdays. This is in order to provide the best service to the public in these difficult days."
Yohannoff also warned about the consequences if employees are not vaccinated: "It should be noted that the interest of the said vaccine is not purely of the food chains but also of the State of Israel and its citizens in general and this is because these workers do not come into contact with a limited number of people every day. In the case of infection with the virus, the very fact that they come into contact with such a high number of customers, may make each of them a distributor, when it comes to thousands of workers, including freezers, ushers, butchers, cleaners and more, which may prevent the great efforts of Israel In order to control the epidemic and return the economy to the days when the coefficient of infection is very high. "
"Therefore, we believe that even the Ministry of Health in particular and the State of Israel in general, in the health context and also due to considerations related to the public good at this time as we detailed above, have a top priority to prevent this risk and ensure that food marketing chains ensure the health of their employees and customers."
Needless to say, the network operates under the strictest purple mark provisions, imposing 'social alienation' restrictions and maintaining the Corona regulations in the most stringent form, sometimes even stricter with itself than in accordance with the provisions of the law. Therefore, we ask you in every language "Request to understand the size of the hour and use your authority to determine that food chain employees, including Yohannoff, will be included in the population eligible for the vaccine regardless of their age or medical condition as soon as possible and immediately."
