Further updates coming to protocols

Barbados could soon be making special provisions in its protocols for individuals who have been vaccinated and want to visit the island, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Kenneth George has hinted.

He gave the indication on Wednesday during the first quarterly general meeting of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA) for this year, held under the theme Tourism: Surviving Beyond COVID-19.

“Soon from now Barbados will be updating the protocols on the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc’s website that will indicate new guidelines and directions for persons who are being vaccinated overseas and wish to pass through Barbados whether it be on business or holiday. We are currently going through that process and very soon we will be able to update those guidelines,” Dr George announced.

“There have been some pronouncements by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). However, they are not totally there yet with respect to giving total clearance for people who are vaccinated who want to travel, but I think that Barbados is on the cusp of making recommendations for persons who [are] vaccinated,” he said.

Dr George opted not to say what measures were likely to be imposed but insisted that the new guidelines would be announced soon.

The chief medical officer made it clear that regardless of the measures to be put in place for those who are vaccinated, the practice of mask wearing in public, sanitizing of hands and physical distancing will continue.

Warning of increased vigilance, Dr George said while vaccinating against the COVID-19 provided some hope “we are dealing with the variants here in Barbados, which are known to be more infectious”, adding that with Barbados’ main source markets being the UK, USA, Canada, there was always the potential threat for movement of people with new variants to the island.

“I could see that the whole issue of mask wearing is going to be here with us for a very long time. I am very concerned that persons in our source markets are going against science and burning masks and telling their population that masks offer no first line protection against disease. This is not acceptable in Barbados and wouldn’t be acceptable in Barbados,” said George.

At the same time, he expressed disappointment that more frontline tourism workers here did not jump at the opportunity recently to be vaccinated.

“I know certainly the numbers are not where we want them to be. However, once we have more vaccines on the ground I will again engage the BHTA to reach out to its membership to make sure that we have the levels of interest on vaccination to a much higher level,” the newly appointed CMO stated.

Adding that there has been a “mixed response” generally among people toward taking the vaccine, he insisted “we could have done better with our frontline workers”.

“We have reached about 60 per cent in some cases. There is still a bit of vaccine hesitancy. There is still a bit of, in the Barbadian parlance, ‘let me wait and see if somebody will drop down dead before I take it’, which is a bit unfortunate,” he said, adding that he anticipated increased uptake over time.

While also highlighting the hesitancy among some tourism workers, Chairman of the BHTA Geoffrey Roach warned employers in the industry against forcing their workers to take the jab.

“We have seen varying degrees of willingness to take up the vaccine and even among the tourism players. We have heard stories of employers who have attempted to force employees to take the vaccine. I want to remind all of our members that taking the vaccine is not compulsory and it is a decision of the individual themselves,” said Roach. (MM)