Unvaccinated sanitation workers who were allowed to return to work this month following the release of a memo signed by the permanent secretary in the ministry of health Cuthbert Knights, would be compensated.
During a call to NBC Radio last Wednesday, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves commented on the reinstatement of the workers.
“I saw some commentaries—it was drawn to my attention—regarding some workers at sanitation, who the officials had to take back because somewhere along the line the officials had let go some people down there who didn’t take the vaccine, which was not in accordance with the regulations, and when it was brought to the attention of the political directorate we dealt with it. They should have just checked the rules,” the Prime Minister said.
“So those persons, not a significant number of them, they basically will get paid for what was an enforced holiday,” Gonsalves said.
A COVID-19 mandate for all frontline workers in St Vincent and the Grenadines went into effect at midnight on Friday, 19 November 2021.
Front line workers, according to the Public Health Act, includes;
All health care workers.
Police officers.
Prison and customs officers.
Teachers.
Permanent Secretaries.
All heads of departments and Chief Technical officers.
Following the mandate, a series of protests took place across St Vincent and the Grenadines.
The protest was led mainly by the SVG Teachers Union, the Public Service Union and the Police Welfare Association.
On Friday 10 December, President of the Union Oswald Robinson told St Vincent Times that protests also took place on the Grenadine islands of Bequia, Canouan and Union Island.
A protest in Kingstown on 5 August 2021 left Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves with an injury to the head.
The Prime Minister attempted to make his way through an angry mob demonstrating against a proposed amendment to the Public Health Act, which gave rise to the vaccine mandate.
