InterManager president Mark O'Neil has called for shipmanagers to go it alone on seafarer vaccines after an "extremely frustrating" meeting with the International Maritime Organization.

In an outspoken introduction to the shipmanagement association's members' meeting on Wednesday, the Columbia Shipmanagement chief executive said vessel managers must now source their own jabs, as progress through national governments is too slow.

O'Neil said he and InterManager secretary general Kuba Szymanski talked to IMO representatives about the issue on 13 April.