Much of the regional governments’ vaccine policy is driven by economic considerations and pressure from the business community, which is having a difficult time recovering from the impact of the pandemic.Ī debate on the controversial issue is currently raging in Barbados, where less than 35 per cent of the population is partially vaccinated and 26 per cent fully vaccinated. “We have seen creative measures being deployed, including policy around access to work, to certain facilities legislation that requires persons of a particular age to be vaccinated.” “There is going to come a point when we will have to give some consideration to some of those measures,” declared Tufton. The US president, Joe Biden, also announced last Thursday that all federal employees and contractors must now be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or face regular testing before returning to in-person work. Establishments that fail to enforce the rules will face penalties, and their employees could face pay suspensions – but not firings – if they fail to get vaccinated as well. However, with over 1,800 COVID-19 cases in July at a daily average of more than 130 new infections, the health minister, Dr Christopher Tufton, late last month mooted the idea of following the example of France, which last week enacted a controversial law that makes health passes mandatory for access to bars, restaurants, gyms and certain malls. There’s not much clarity here on the Andrew Holness government’s position on the issue, with the prime minister stating last week that he would not make “anything mandatory”, even as he suggested that vaccinated teachers would be treated “in some preferential way” that would be different from those who are unvaccinated. “Well, I want to say definitively to the people of Antigua and Barbuda that we do not have the luxury of not getting vaccinated, and if we do not get the herd immunity perhaps in the next 60 to 90 days, there is going to be weeping and gnashing of teeth in this country.” ECONOMIC CONSIDERATION Antigua and Barbuda is one of the hardest-hit countries, one of the most vulnerable, and you are telling me that we have the luxury of not getting vaccinated?” the Antiguan leader said in early May. We are struggling on a monthly basis to meet salaries and wages. This policy is a climbdown of sorts from Browne’s previous high of mandatory vaccination unless the twin-island state reached herd immunity by the start of this month. The government had initially indicated that each test would cost EC$260 (approximately US$96) but has since reduced the cost to EC$50 (approximately US$18). Much to the chagrin of the labour unions, Browne has declared that front-line public sector workers who provide direct services to arriving passengers and tourists must be fully vaccinated or be subjected to twice-monthly testing at their own expense. In Antigua and Barbuda, where just 31 per cent of the population is fully vaccinated, with 39 per cent partially vaccinated, the Gaston Browne administration has adopted a hard-line approach to the issue. Sign up for The Gleaner’s morning and evening newsletters. With the highly contagious Delta variant confirmed in a number of Caribbean countries, where vaccine hesitancy remains high, governments of the tourism-dependent states are mulling ways to get people to take the COVID-19 jabs.
“What’s the rush, what do they really have to lose if they don’t want to be vaccinated, why do we have to reach to the point where we have to be forcing people to do this?” I think people should have choices in this thing, man,” Vera told The Sunday Gleaner. Vera continues to have questions about the effectiveness of the vaccine and said she was in no rush to take the second shot, although she has not ruled it out altogether.īut there is one thing the law-enforcement official is adamant about: no Caribbean government should force citizens to take the vaccine, despite the high level of hesitancy that has stymied the authorities’ efforts to reach herd immunity, she argued. After all, she points out, she willingly took the first shot of the AstraZeneca, although she failed to turn up for the second jab when it was due. Police officer Vera Moss* insists she’s no anti-vaxxer, nor is she opposed to the COVID-19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization.
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