The Ministry of Health warned Anguillians, on Monday, that if they are unvaccinated they could be denied access to medical treatment at hospitals in the region.
Speaking at the government’s weekly Press Conference on December 13, 2021, Permanent Secretary of Health, Foster Rogers, reported: “Hospitals in the region are not accepting transfers [patients] from Anguilla unless you are vaccinated.”
He admonished: “We have been preaching this from the beginning of the year, that a person needed to get vaccinated, not only for themselves, but [in the event you have to] travel with a loved one overseas, or if you have to be admitted to a hospital overseas, you will not be accepted unless you are vaccinated.”
He reported: “We had hospitals who have refused quite a few of our patients because they were not vaccinated – and it is difficult for us to place patients in the region.
“Because of the evidence of vaccinations, and because of the opportunities we have had in the region to be vaccinated, since February, many institutions are saying persons have had an opportunity [to be vaccinated]. We now have to protect our own institutions [and] protect our own countries. For you to get a bed in our hospital, you must be vaccinated.”
Mr. Rogers noted that persons may have to go as far as the US to receive medical treatment, if they can. However, that in itself may not be a viable option, given that unvaccinated adults who are non-citizens of the US are not allowed to enter that country.
