By Foday Moriba Conteh
When COVID-19 breakout in the country, one of the telecommunications company operating in the country, Africell Sierra Leone, immediately commenced working tirelessly towards curtailing the spread of the virus in the country.
The company on Friday 8th April, 2022, at its Headquarters on Wilberforce in Freetown celebrated the achievement of One Hundred Percent (100%) COVID-19 Vaccination compliance by its staff of which many commended the efforts of the company in achieving such as a move in the right direction towards combating the virus in the country and more especially the willingness and commitment demonstrated by staff to adhere to the clarion call to be vaccinated against contracting the virus.
In his opening remarks, the Chairman for the occasion, John Konteh, started by thanking all for graciously attending the celebration and more especially to the members of staff of Africell-SL for their 100% COVID-19 vaccination adherence and status, adding that it is a coincidence that the largest department completed taking the vaccination on Thursday, 7th April 2022.
He furthered that for them as a company it’s worth celebrating, adding that it’s a goal that they committed themselves to by the end of the first quarter of this year and he is glad that as a company they have achieved such.
The Human Resource Director of Africell, Andrew Fatorma congratulated staff of Africell especially the Commercial Department maintaining that Africell is passionate about the wellbeing of its workforce underscoring the importance of having a healthy workforce to foster a conducive working environment for all.
He added that as a company they have been championing health related issues across the country partnering with the Ministry of Health and its supporting partners and observed that it has not been an easy endeavor in getting all staff fully vaccinated taking into consideration the unproven theories against taking the vaccines making the rounds on social media.
In his keynote address, the Managing Director of Africell-SL, Shadi Gerjawi, expressed appreciation to all members of staff of Africell-SL for going for or taking the vaccines adding that such will help them protect themselves as well as protect customers and family members, adding that vaccination is the key approach to protect workers against the spread of COVID-19 as science has proven that fully vaccinated people are less likely to have symptomatic infection or transmit the virus. He continued by encouraging other corporate institutions to emulate the good example that has been set by Africell-SL.
He further applauded the members of staff that pushed hard to be vaccinated, adding that he had been going from office to office explaining to them to see reason why the COVID-19 vaccinations are good to their health.
The Managing Director maintained that most of them were complaining of various illnesses, adding that he is now happy, because they have fully completed taking the vaccines maintaining how since then there has not been any complaint of debilitating effects.
He underscored and reaffirmed the importance of being vaccinated stating that vaccination significantly strengthens one’s defense against COVID-19 and therefore urged all employees to work collectively to raise awareness geared towards controlling the spread of the virus further disclosing that vaccination is one of the safest and most effective ways to protect oneself from life-threatening and preventable diseases.
The event was climaxed by the official placement of the 100% vaccination sticker at the main entrance gate of the company by the Managing Director, Africell-SL Shadi Gerjawi.
