Bans and new travel restrictions won't be enough to tame the Omicron variant, but risk collapsing the international transport sector and the entire supply chain. The alarm is sounded by international organizations and trade unions representing road, air and maritime transport. The workers of cross-border transport, including seafarers, aircrews and drivers, “must be able to continue doing their jobs” and “cross borders without overly restrictive travel regulations, to keep the already struggling global supply chain moving” , the institutions reiterated.
Since the World Health Organization (WHO) designated the new Omicron strain as a "variant of high concern," more than 50 countries have stepped up border controls and reimposed varying degrees of travel restrictions, among the first the US and Japan.
Transportation bodies – which account for more than $20 trillion in global trade annually and 65 million global transport workers across the supply chain – are calling for a less rushed and piecemeal approach from governments to new travel rules .
There are five requests made by the international bodies of cross-border transport: guarantee the free and safe movement of transport workers, give priority to them for vaccines; adopt travel and health protocols as already approved by Ilo, Imo, Who and ICAO; create globally harmonized vaccination certificates and processes; increase the supply of vaccines in order to speed up the recovery of the industries.
Everything will be seen Monday December 6, in the meeting between WHO and the International Labor Organization (ILO) precisely to discuss the recommendations and the impact that travel bans and other restrictions in response to the new variant will have on transport workers and the supply chain .
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said: “After nearly two years of dealing with Covid-19, we should have moved beyond these knee-jerk, uncoordinated, Pavlovian-like responses. Public health officials tell us we should expect variants to emerge. And by the time they are discovered, experience shows that they are already around the world. Border restrictions that prevent aircrew from doing their jobs will do nothing to prevent it, inflicting serious damage on global supply chains and recovering local economies.
No less harsh are the words of Stephen Cotton, general secretary of the International transport workers' federation, according to which "the same governments that blocked global access to vaccines are now the first to block their borders to keep out the Omicron variant". And he underlines the need "for universal access to vaccines" and that governments must "stop bowing down to big pharmaceutical companies and pave the way so that every country can produce the vaccines needed to end this pandemic".
