RTV Drenthe spoke with cleaning entrepreneurs Inge Dokter (Dokter cleaning company in Emmen) and Marcel Mink (Fonville cleaning company) about the vaccination programme in response to Schoonmakend Nederland's call to not forgetting cleaners in care.
They see that some employees would prefer to get the vaccine today. But that does not apply to everyone. “The figures that came out this morning (5 January) that an average of three quarters of the Dutch are willing to get vaccinated corresponds well to the situation with us,” said Dokter.
She says it makes sense that cleaners in hospitals should be given priority over Dokter's cleaners because they do not clean in hospitals. However, she does feel that cleaners who visit elderly people in care homes should also be given priority. “Within our company, we are easily talking about four to five hundred people then anyway,” says Dokter.
Talk of the day
Both Dokter and Mink indicate that the subject of vaccination is very much alive among employees; developments around the virus are the talk of the day. At Fonville, this is particularly the case among employees working in high-risk areas. “We have 150 people who are in the line of fire with regularity,” Mink describes the situation of Fonville cleaning staff at healthcare facilities. “And of course we think it is important that our people are well protected.”
However, Mink currently sees no fear among his staff to go to work on (potential corona fires). “During the first corona wave, that was a bit more alive. By taking proper safety measures, we are managing well now, although I must say it is difficult to arrange substitutes if one of our cleaners did contract the virus in a corona fire.”
Both cleaning entrepreneurs are keeping a close eye on vaccination developments, for instance through consultations with Schoonmakend Nederland, in order to be able to properly inform their employees soon.
English (UK)