With many Guyanese still hesitant about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, President Irfaan Ali yesterday said that the Government will soon consider the need for a vaccine passport.
Speaking at a press conference yesterday at State House, Ali said the Government’s goal is to achieve herd immunity in the shortest possible time and it has worked tirelessly to procure COVID-19 vaccines. He said that procurement of the vaccines has not been easy.
“We have met it head-on and we have made many resources available to ensure that Guyanese are vaccinated. Our comprehensive response to COVID has cost us billions of dollars as a nation and while the government is taking every step to ensure that (all) Guyanese are vaccinated it is the responsibility of every citizen, though not mandatory, to understand the importance. These vaccines come with a shelf life, cost for storage and transportation which are enormous and will not forever be available,” he stated.
He noted that in an effort to restore some sort of normalcy many countries are considering mass vaccine passports as an entry requirement into their respective countries. He said the Government will soon have to consider this regardless of if persons have been vaccinated or not. Ali added that they are looking at a number of ways to address persons’ hesitancy towards the vaccine and this includes dispelling misconceptions circulating about the vaccines.
“The vaccination passport is becoming an essential document to conduct business now. Some countries are now moving to remove the mask policy and some are contemplating a two-tier system and those who are vaccinated go through the line and those who are not vaccinated have to go through testing. We have to contemplate all these because we cannot take our collective health and put it at risk who do not understand the importance,” he said.
He said that they have been engaging civil society, political parties, and private sector and religious bodies to ensure that persons gets vaccinated.
Meanwhile, Ali said that enforcement of the COVID-19 measures will be strengthened and enhanced, revealing that over the weekend the enforcement unit from the task force intercepted a large gathering with no less than 1000 persons on the Linden Highway. With no resources to arrest that number of people, he added, they will be shifting focus to the owners and managers of establishments that permit large gatherings.
He noted that the owners and managers will be charged and face the full extent of the law.
“We have to contemplate because we don’t know how long the efficacy of the vaccine… is but we know our response for sure will have some long-term effect. We are part of a regional and global community so yes we will see stronger enforcement and we are now going to enhance more boots on the ground from the army and police to support this,” he said.
Further, Ali said more financial resources will be directed towards enforcement but lamented that the irresponsibility of the people is costing the country as those funds could’ve been directed towards sectors that have been badly affected by the pandemic.
The President went on to note that fines for breaching the curfew are inadequate so he has asked the Attorney General to review the law so that they can pass an amendment for a higher fine.
Asked if the Government had any plans to make adjustments to the measures, specifically the curfew, Ali said that based on advice from the task force no changes will be made.
