By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRIME MINISTER Dr Keith Rowley announced on Saturday that persons employed by the State or State agencies were not accepting a Covid-19 vaccine at a rate the government anticipated.
As a result, the government had to make a hard decision to implement the policy that unless a person was vaccinated, they can no longer be present at their employer’s workplace.
Dr Rowley listed some of the state agencies and their staff-vaccination percentage adding that he had hoped that persons especially in those services would have jumped at the opportunity to get vaccinated against the deadly virus.
The Prime Minister at a press conference told the population, “Nobody is going to hold down anybody and inject them and forced the Bill Gates magnetic strip into you, or force you to not get into heaven when you pass the pearly gates, a bell will ring that you have the mark of the beast on you. Nobody is going to do that to you. You will make a decision if you are working with the Government, the State enterprises as well.”
Dr Rowley provided a rough estimate as to how many people were employed by the public sector, a total of 95,490 included contracted labour.
He also said that the private-sector employees had a much higher vaccination rate.
Below is the information provided by the prime minister on Saturday relating to the vaccination rates in some Governmental ministries and state enterprises:
| STATE AGENCY | STAFF | Vaccination Rate |
| Ministry of Health | 3,116 | 75% |
| South West Regional Health Authority | 2,272 | 80% |
| Eastern Regional Health Authority | 5,000 | 71% |
| Tobago Regional Health Authority | 1,608 | 50% |
| North West Regional Health Authority | 5,400 | 45% |
| North Central Regional Health Authority | 5,130 | 48% |
| Police Service | 7,955 | 49% |
| Prison Service | 3,400 | 35% |
| Defence Force | 5400 | 30% |
| Immigration | 723 | 25% |
| Fire Services | 2,386 | 20% |
| Ministry of Tourism, Culture and the Arts | 197 | 75% |
| Office of the Attorney General | 1,106 | 61% |
| Ministry of Trade and Industry | 215 | 60% |
| Personnel Department | 160 | 87% |
| Inland Revenue Division | 1,064 | 45% |
| CEPEP | Core – 124 ,
Contractors – 9,082
|
83%
41% |
| URP | 8,050 | 60% |
| OJT | 73 | 75% |
