More than a year after COVID-19 reached Mexico and caused the widespread closure of automotive plants and strict health security measures, the industry is on the threshold of a more hopeful phase in the fight against the pandemic: vaccination .
Marcelo Ebrard reported last week that the doses of Janssen vaccine that the United States government will donate to Mexico will be applied to the population between 18 and 39 years old in border municipalities, the age range that predominates in automotive plants and maquiladoras.
“Obviously we will like it very well because it extends the vaccination age for us. Today, we are in the range of 40 to 49 years old and the arrival of these doses (from Janssen) will allow the people we have in the plants to be vaccinated and thus avoid a possible regrowth and reduce contagions “, said Alberto Busdamente, director of Foreign Trade of the National Auto Parts Industry.
Around a million people work in the auto parts and assembly plants, but contrary to what happens with the other two trading partners, Canada and the United States, whose auto workers have an average age that exceeds 40 years, the average age of workers in the automotive sector in Mexico are around 28 years old.
But so far, only those over the age of 60 have been fully immunized.
Meanwhile, employees at most plants are still waiting for their opportunity. Many of them, tired of breathing through a mask for eight hours at the bottom of the line, are hopeful that some security measures can be relaxed if enough colleagues get vaccinated.
At the end of May 2020, and after two months of halted operations, workers returned to the lines in a safe environment that required masks, glasses, gloves, social distancing, constant cleaning protocols, and temperature controls.
“The vast majority of employees who are in the assembly lines of the assembly plants are under 40 years of age. So they are within the population spectrum that has not yet received their vaccination. We are looking for a way to accelerate the application of the dose because this would help, although not to a return to normality, it would help to have activities with less concern for infections, “said Fausto Cuevas, director of the Mexican Association of the Automotive Industry.
Several manufacturers have previously said that vaccines are a measure, in addition to masks and social distancing, to limit the spread of the virus and improve work dynamics in plants.
“I think we are all waiting for a vaccine, to have more peace of mind in our work and daily lives,” Horacio Chávez, CEO of Kia Mexico, said at the end of 2020. “The recovery of the sector will depend a lot on when we have the vaccine. Until we find a vaccine, it seems really difficult to return to a normal life, as we had before. We are going to have to live with this situation, keeping our distance and wearing face masks, although it is not pleasant, “Igor Dumas, former director of Peugeot in Mexico, commented months before.
The last 18 months have been a shakeup for the industry. The pandemic has not yet abated, the shortage of semiconductors has once again paralyzed the plants and the rising cost of raw materials threatens to impact again the price of vehicles, which in Mexico has risen 9% so far this year.
The assemblers and their suppliers are trying to speed up vaccination to reduce uncertainty at the plants. Some companies, especially those located on the northern border, have encouraged their workers to travel to the United States to get vaccinated.
“It is not exclusive to the automotive sector, it is a trend in the border area,” said Bustamante.
Both vehicle and auto parts manufacturers have offered federal, state and municipal governments to have the plants function as vaccination centers. “With some of them we will begin to do so, as with the State of Mexico,” explained the representative of the INA.
