During the weekly Government press conference held on Monday, April 12th, the Permanent Secretary of Health, Mr. Foster Rogers, again alluded to Government’s goal for 70% of the population to be vaccinated in order for the island to fully reopen under ideal health conditions, relative to COVID-19.
He advised: “We are asking persons to help us ensure that we get 70% of the population vaccinated. If we do not get close enough, Government would have to make a decision whether to open or not to open. We cannot have an entire country being held back by those who refuse to take the vaccine — or those who are still undecided as to whether or not they should take it.
“There are many people in Anguilla who do not yet understand the consequences of not taking the vaccine. We cannot open up fully unless our people are protected by the vaccine. This is so profound. We must understand that COVID-19 is an existential threat to Anguilla’s development and existence. So, when I hear people make statements like ‘no one can force me to take the vaccine’, I get somewhat troubled because those people have not been really impacted by this pandemic.
“Anguilla has to now move from a closed down state in order to get our economy vibrant again, and the only way we can do that is through vaccination. In order for us to open safely, our people’s health must be protected.
“We have done all we could in the Ministry of Health. We have used the constitution to shut the country down. We prohibited people from going to church; you couldn’t visit relatives overseas; you couldn’t have a party in your yard, or go to a funeral as you would like. But we cannot go back there. Human beings are not designed to function like that. Providentially, we have gotten to a point now where people can function in a relatively free way — the way we have been designed. However, the only way we can maintain this freedom is through the greater majority of our population accepting the vaccine.”
The PS went on to say that the constitution also allows certain restrictions on employees by sectors. He explained that although the government will not, at this point, make a blanket order that everyone must be vaccinated, however, in order to maintain public health, sectoral mandates will be put in place to protect person who are most at risk of exposure to the coronavirus. Thus, all public sector and private sector employees who are deemed to be at high risk for the COVID-19 infection must be vaccinated.
The PS’s pronouncements were echoed by the Hon. Minister of Labour and Immigration, Mr. Ken Hodge: “There are quite a number of persons that have been vaccinated and continue to be vaccinated, and we encourage that. But, realistically speaking, we cannot be putting people on the frontlines to work unprotected — not being vaccinated. This will also apply to employees in areas such as immigration and customs.” “There are no two ways about it,” he said, “all those person working in frontline positions must be vaccinated.”
– Staff Reporter, James R. Harrigan
