MAHLE Celebrates Global Employee COVID-19 Vaccine Initiative
MAHLE has largely completed its worldwide company vaccination initiatives to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the company announced.
Altogether, around 13,000 employees were vaccinated, including one in every four staff in Germany and half the workforce in China. The international automotive supplier offered vaccinations to its employees in China, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, Austria and Slovakia. In some cases, locations were able to extend this offer to family members, the company said.
“The progress and success of our company initiatives to vaccinate against COVID-19 give us reason to be hopeful and confident. We have made an important contribution toward containing the pandemic,” said Anke Felder, corporate executive vice president Human Resources and member of the MAHLE Management Board.
MAHLE began planning its worldwide vaccination program at the beginning of 2021. Wherever a company vaccination initiative was possible, MAHLE made the appropriate preparations. Depending on the country and the size of the location, the vaccinations were either administered by in-house medical staff and company doctors or with the support of local doctors and vaccination centers, the company said.
In China, MAHLE achieved a high vaccination rate by introducing numerous measures. Free shuttle buses took employees to nearby vaccination centers, and mobile vaccination teams came directly to MAHLE locations. The measures proved successful: more than half of the approximately 10,000 employees received their COVID-19 vaccinations through MAHLE, the company said.
In Germany, company vaccinations began nationwide in June for all those who had not yet been offered a vaccination by other means. At twelve locations, around 3,000 staff came forward, meaning that a good quarter of employees and some of their family members were vaccinated by MAHLE. At MAHLE’s headquarters in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Stuttgart’s Filderklinik supported the company vaccination initiative in a specially erected vaccination tent.
MAHLE locations in India also completed their vaccination initiative, which was run through private hospitals. Overall, two-thirds of employees took advantage of this opportunity.
MAHLE saw its fastest vaccination progress in Japan. In the Greater Tokyo area, around 80 percent of MAHLE staff and some family members received their first vaccination within just one week.
In Mexico, the company parking lot at the Ramos Arizpe plant was quickly repurposed as a pop-up vaccination center. More than 60 percent of MAHLE employees in the priority groups receive their longed-for vaccination in this way, but their family members and partly staff from from other companies in the region did as well.
MAHLE built a vaccination station at the St. Michael plant in Austria. The in-house medical team vaccinated 45 percent of the plant’s employees.
The Námestovo plant in Slovakia used the slogan, “Everyone in a single day.” This resulted in 20 percent of plant staff and some family members coming in for vaccination.
“I’m personally delighted that our company offer has meant we could contribute toward the increased safety and protection of our employees during the pandemic,” said Felder, commenting on MAHLE’s efforts. “Vaccination is the only way we will see an end to the pandemic and a return to normal life.”
