The views and opinions expressed by the author(s) do not represent the official position of Barbados TODAY.
by Patrick Gittens
Though many might not admire the draconian position taken by the prime ministers of St Vincent and the Grenadines and Antigua and Barbuda on the mandatory vaccine issue, I respect their forthrightness in telling their respective people that they are there to govern the country and that they are insisting on mandatory vaccination.
They are not leaving it for speculation, doubt or on the private sector to lead the offensive charge nor are they concerned about fall-out or unpopularity or losing votes.
That is why I need clarity from the Barbados end though it might seemingly have already been given. Prior to the march by thousands on this vaccination issue with hundreds, if not thousands, shouting “Mia must go”, I got the impression that, like Antigua and St Vincent, the Mottley administration was telling Barbadians that they had been “elected to govern”.
Many believed previously that Barbados was going the way of mandatory vaccination. But there was a noticeable pull-back after the march with the “official” Government position being that vaccinations would not be made mandatory. So much for that march by thousands of voters and the seething anger of thousands more who did not march.
But Government still has to bring clarity to what is happening on the ground. The actions of the private sector would suggest that there is a mandatory vaccination policy in place because they are boldly pronouncing “get vaccinate or else” as though they have been told something that the rest of us have not been made privy to.
The Minister of Labour Colin Jordan has been making some weak, perfunctory statements but the private sector seems not to be listening. Perhaps, rather than talking, he should be doing . . . something . . . anything.
But that is the private sector, what about the public sector? A young man was not allowed to go to be with his wife while she delivered their baby at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital because he wasn’t vaccinated. Neither was she. I understand that another young man was recently denied a public service job opportunity because he wasn’t vaccinated.
So, what is really going on?
On the surface and as far as the general public is to accept, there is no mandatory vaccination in Barbados. But yet, increasingly, stories are surfacing of unvaccinated Barbadians being denied access to services and opportunities because they are not vaccinated.
I believe that if mandatory vaccination is the direction that Government really wants to go, they should simply come out and say so. I am 100 per cent supportive of the Mia Mottley administration if they take this step.
Despite suggestions in certain quarters, I do not believe that Government is waiting until after the General Eection to bring mandatory vaccinations just because of those few thousand voices at the recent march.
I do not believe that this Government is in the business of stealth or trying to trick Barbadians. Nor do I believe that this Government would care more about votes than people’s health and safety. We all live here.
Thus, if mandatory vaccination is coming, do it now, do not let Bajans get the impression that Government is hiding behind or being led by the private sector. Govern!
