BPSA calls for mandatory vaccination or testing for frontline workers

The Barbados Private Sector Association (BPSA) has adopted a new position that calls for mandatory vaccines for all frontline workers, discarding its previous stance that favoured moral suasion and public education over compulsory inoculation.

Recently appointed Chairman of the BPSA Trisha Tannis declared that with an exponential increase in the number of COVID-19 cases threatening lives and the economy at unprecedented levels, the previous approach could no longer be adopted.

In fact, she declared that an ultimatum mandating either vaccination or frequent testing for frontline workers would be regarded as the bare minimum.

“It is our preference that once it is safe to do so by a person’s own medical practitioner advising them, and there is no genuine religious exception to doing so, persons who are most exposed in this country and therefore who can spread it more effectively should have a vaccine mandate or a frequent testing mandate, and that is the position of the BPSA at the very least,” Tannis told Barbados TODAY.

“If we don’t need to go to a full national mandate, then at the very least we need to be looking at protecting the persons and the spaces around them, their communities, their homes, their businesses, their places of employment and, of course, themselves, by looking at  vaccine mandates or frequent testing so that we know proactively what the status is of persons who are on the frontline or who work in essential services,” the business leader added.

Defining frontline workers as “anyone who interacts with large numbers of people on a daily basis as a condition of their employment or employment”, Tannis explained that the mandates should apply to a range of people, from healthcare workers to cashiers and salespeople.

Businesses have been complaining that with the current wave of COVID-19, unemployment rates are at unprecedented levels, even without lockdown measures. With numerous workers in isolation and quarantine for anywhere between seven and 14 days, many private sector players are struggling to participate efficiently in daily market activities.

“When you multiply that impact across the length and breadth of Barbados, it will take us incredibly longer to retain a path of sustainable growth and development for this economy, and if you speak to our tourism partners, they have a more concerning situation because what we do have increasingly as we head into our peak season, is tourists picking and choosing even their destination or accommodation based on vaccination status and, of course, the level of contagion in the country,” Tannis stressed.

In July and August this year, officials from the business community and the trade union movement as well as the Mia Mottley administration agreed that voluntary vaccination would be the order of the day.

Despite the increasing case numbers, both the Government and trade unions are holding onto the original agreement, as individual businesses break away from the social partnership pact in favour of stringent vaccine mandates.

Tannis maintained that the association’s position was in no way intended to fuel “media frenzies” or pitch the private sector against the trade union movement. Instead, she said, it is simply an acknowledgement that the forum for dialogue on the matter ought to be urgently revisited.

“What the unions are actually saying is that there has not been an updated position in the social partnership since August 20th or July 27th, and that is true. But what I am telling you is that this is the position of the Barbados private sector today, and for us to ignore that where we are today and where we were in August or July are completely different scenarios, I think would be a bit naive,” said the BPSA leader said.

“Every day that we don’t take action in some form or fashion, we are pushing the timeline even further,” she warned, alluding to suggestions from the Barbados Association of Medical Practitioners (BAMP) that frontline workers are up to 10 times more likely to contract and spread the virus.

Tannis expressed support for certain “no movement” days and private sector-driven vaccine incentives as suggested by BAMP, but warned that only vaccinations at this stage would adequately address the core fundamental challenges.

“There is a lot of emotion around the topic but I think we need to kind of settle down, keep calm, keep listening to each other. But at the end of the day, we are going to be facing a decision that we have to make as to how to protect the economy and protect people’s health as well,” she concluded.
kareemsmith@barbadostoday.bb