By Sue-Ann Wayow
AS of mid-January 2022, only vaccinated Government employees will be allowed to work in their offices in Trinidad and Tobago.
Employees can choose to stay away from the workplace if they do not want to be vaccinated but they will not be paid.
This was the decision made by the Government headed by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley on Saturday as he emphasised that vaccination was the best and most effective tool to fight the virus that has claimed more than 2,500 lives in T&T.
“We are at our worst position in the pandemic, in the height of the Christmas season in the second year,” Dr Rowley said.
He said, “We are not mandating anyone to get vaccinated. We are creating safe zones… The only way that the Government is responding in this way is because of the lives that are being affected. It is not a vaccine mandate, it is a safe zone mandate.”
“Nobody is going to hold down anybody and inject them,” he added.
Dr Rowley said the Government was the largest employer in the country with persons in key essential positions who he would have thought would have rushed to get vaccinated given their frequent contact with others.
He also gave all public servants from December 24, 2021 to January 3, 2022 off telling them to get vaccinated and not gather for Christmas parties.
The prime minister listed the vaccination rates of various governmental sectors starting with the Ministry of Health saying that 75% were vaccinated which was not a bad percentage.
Of all the regional health authorities, the South West Regional Health Authority SWRHA had the highest vaccination rate with 80% of its staff vaccinated. The North Central Regional Health Authority and the North West Regional Health Authority had less than 50% staff vaccinated, Dr Rowley said.
He also said that in law enforcement, the police service was the most vaccinated with 49%.
The Prime Minister had said on several occasions that lockdown measures would be used as a last resort to curb the spread and effects of the virus.
Legal arrangements will be made
Dr Rowley said he has been having extensive discussions with Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi and his legal team.
“Legal amendments will be made to the laws,” he said.
He is also expecting a lot of response to the announced policy and he may not be the most well-liked person after that announcement.
“I know there will be a lot of response to this… If we don’t intervene, the outcome would be one of delinquency. The government cannot accept delinquency in a pandemic,” Dr Rowley said.
He said the public will be further informed on the regulations by Al-Rawi and the necessary changes will be made through Parliamentary procedure.
The prime minister said Government has not yet made a policy on whether children will return to physical school in January and only those attending the higher forms will continue to attend physical classes.
Al-Rawi also spoke about the Public Ordinance Act which will be amended accordingly.
He said based on the advice of the Chief Medical Officer and the vaccination programme, the amendments will be made accordingly.
He said, “The legislation will cover all eventualities.”
Dr Rowley said there was no discrimination between public and private sector employees and that the private sector was actually more supportive of the vaccination programme than the public sector.
“Vaccination is our best way of dealing with this destruction,” he maintained.
I am in total agreement with the Prime Minister and the PNM Government that all civil servants willing to come out and work must be vaccinated and those who choose to not comply can refuse and stay away and not be paid,BUT what about the citizens who may wish to access any Government Office for service of some sort, shouldn’t they present some proof of been vaccinated as well before gaining access to any of the offices . In my opinion for this measure to be effective and productive it must be two way .