Vaccine views important – Government ministers

Government is patting itself on the back for its handling of the COVID-19 vaccination process.

“The issue of vaccination and testing is so important to this country in terms of helping us to make a decision about how we proceed, that it is important that we consult. The truth is, Barbados has proudly boasted a social partnership and as we are seeing across the Caribbean region, others are making decisions in a completely different way. I think it is to our credit that we can engage in this type of forum, that we can allow all ideas to contend,” said Acting Prime Minister Santia Bradshaw.

Her comments came on the heels of an attack on Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves while on his way to Parliament last week. The 75-year-old leader suffered a concussion after he was struck in the head by an object thrown by a protestor on the day legislation to amend the Public Health Bill to allow mandatory vaccination of certain categories of public sector employees was to be piloted.

Speaking at the second public consultation on the COVID-19 vaccines and testing at the Princess Margaret Secondary School, Six Roads, St Philip on Wednesday evening, Bradshaw said the Mia Mottley administration did not take lightly the views of its citizens.

“There really is no right or no wrong, but in truth and in fact this is an opportunity for you to share your views, for us to also have persons who are medically trained as well, and certainly persons from labour and the rest of the public sector to be able to answer some questions but also to share their perspectives as well. As we have said before, this helps us to be able to make decisions in relation to vaccination and testing,” she said.

Meantime, Acting Attorney General Wilfred Abrahams gave the assurance that the Government would consider the concerns of the Social Partnership and the general public, and a fair solution found before Government puts forward a position on the issue.

He was responding to a query raised by a member of the audience about employers requesting their employees to be vaccinated, or be “PCR-tested every two weeks, 72 hours before their next shift”.

The audience member said that such a situation was burdensome on “an everyday person in the working class”, who “probably works for $350 to $400 a week”.

Abrahams contended: “We know that legally, the employer cannot take that position because the employer cannot coerce or suggest that a person take any medical procedure or any test.  This is something that we know unequivocally in law that this is not so….  This is something that needs to be addressed.”

In response, the Acting Attorney General explained that Government was trying to apply pre-COVID 19 legislation to a COVID-19 or post-COVID-19 situation in a scenario where the existing laws “did not contemplate a situation such as this”.

Mr. Abrahams added: “This is an evolving, dynamic situation, but you know what?  Coming out of this, there may be new laws….  There may be legal perspectives. Someone said recently that the fastest way to determine this is to put it in a court and let the judges decide.  But what we are doing here, we are taking all of the concerns that are voiced here; we are taking all of the questions; we are taking all of the interventions, and we are looking at all of them, then trying to balance the interests of the ordinary person with the interests of business with the interests of health, with the interests of the rest of Barbados.”

Acknowledging that Government may not end up with a strict legal position, he stressed that the discussions were key to agreeing on a solution that was acceptable by all.

“Quite frankly, your lawyer might look at a law and say this is what applies. My lawyer might look at the exact same law and say something else. That’s why people get opinions; opinions help to inform a discussion. Right now, we are trying to accommodate and hear all the views so that we can come up, if possible, with an agreed position or a position agreed by the majority of Barbados, as to how we proceed, in what is a dynamic and evolving situation,” he emphasized.

“Right now, there are no right answers to this; we are trying to find a way forward and there are some comments that you made in there that have been noted. And I think that will help us significantly in framing what it is that we do, especially with respect to your concern about the cost of the vaccines, and whether or not it is really an acceptable option if the person can’t afford it. These are things that we want to hear…. These are things that we are noting and these are the things that will help us to inform the policy that comes out of this,” Abrahams added. (KC)