This country’s Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, and Finance Minister speaks on COVID-19 Vaccination. St Vincent as of June 15 had administered some 23,087 COVID-19 Vaccines.
Finance Minister Camillo Gonsalves said the Carrot and Stick approach must be explored before turning to mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.
“You have to try to induce people to vaccinate, either by the carrot or by the stick. You see this happening in other countries; you see countries for example having a raffle for a piece of land, or for money, or you have people having a sort of vaccine events, like a vaccine fete if you’re all vaccinated or you have people who are giving particular benefits if they are vaccinated, that type of activity you can call that the carrot, the inducement, there’s a benefit for you, a tangible benefit.”
The finance minister while speaking WEFM also spoke about the “stick” approach.
“And there is the stick where people are fired if they don’t vaccinate, where people don’t get promoted, they’re not eligible for promotions, where the Government says they’re not going to hire new workers if those new workers are not vaccinated or you’re not allowed, if you’re a taxi driver to pick up people at the airport or pick up people at the cruise ship port and those are sort of punitive actions that you take for people who are not vaccinated, I think you have to go through that step first.”
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves
On Tuesday Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves in answering a question about mandatory vaccination for private and public sector workers said;
“My answer to you in relation to the current laws, both in relation to the public sector and the private sector, that you can impose the condition that if you don’t take the vaccine you may be terminated”.
“In the case of both public and private sectors, the employer has a right to have a safe place of work, including a healthy place for you to work, an environment for you to work,” Dr. Gonsalves said, adding that “this is recognized at the Common Law. Various statute law will bolster it, but the common law, it’s there”.
He said employees who feel unsafe working in a close environment with unvaccinated workers may report the matter, or the employer can inform the employees that if the COVID-19 vaccine is not taken: “You may be terminated, but they have to be reasonable in terms of the notice”.
“So, for instance, the State, as an employer, the central government and the advice which we have received is that, and I read the law too, you will give a reasonable notice period. Say listen: we’re planning to have persons at this or that in this work environment vaccinated and that we’d make the vaccine accessible to you, whether it’s a two-week period you get or a four-week period in which this is going to be done and if you refuse to take it (the vaccine) you would be considered that this is an act of misconduct and acts of misconduct may lead to your dismissal,” Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves said he is in talks with the Office of the Attorney General on the matter.
Deputy PM Montgomery Daniel
In May Deputy Prime Minister Montgomery Daniel said the Ministry of Health would be involved in a new vaccine reintroduction campaign.
At the time Daniel said; “They have offered to the cabinet an incentivizing programme, where a lottery can be established, and that can be done in two phases. One when the first thirty thousand persons have been vaccinated, they can benefit. Two, when the full fifty thousand persons are vaccinated, the second lottery can be drawn”.
Daniel also said; “They are looking at where phone cards can be given to vaccinated individuals, and where services from both private and public sector entities can be offered as well.”
“If an individual is fully vaccinated, whenever you turn up for a service at any entity, let’s say, for instance, at a supermarket, you can have that arrangement where a discount can be given to you on items being purchased.”
