“Our body! Our choice!” was the cry at Square of the Revolution and in Mackenzie and Wismar on Wednesday in relation to compulsory vaccination for Covid 19. And MPs were on hand in the form of Christopher Jones, Coretta McDonald, and Natasha Singh to lend their support. If APNU was hoping that this would be viewed as a spontaneous, non-political demonstration against mandatory vaccination, they would be disappointed. No one in a politically conscious society such as this would believe that it had not been organised through political networks. The opposition should be careful; the last thing anyone wants is the politicisation of vaccinations.
Government agencies now require people to provide proof of vaccination before being given access to public buildings, while those who are not vaccinated will have to make an appointment before they will be seen. Where staff are concerned, several ministries have said that if they cannot supply proof of vaccination they will have to show evidence of a negative PCR test before they can work. Workers in the transportation sector are also required to be vaccinated and always have the proof of that on their person. Teachers and health workers likewise fall under mandatory vaccination requirements.
It might be noted that the Guyana government is following the example of a number of other countries, including western ones which have made vaccination mandatory for certain categories of workers and for the general public in certain situations. Australia has made it compulsory for care workers looking after the aged to show proof of vaccination, and Britain will have the same requirement from October. The government there is also considering extending this to the health care sector, while patrons attending venues which attract large numbers as well as nightclubs will have to show proof of vaccination from the end of September.
In the case of Canada it will soon be necessary for all federal public servants, among others to be vaccinated as well as travellers on certain forms of public transportation. As far as France is concerned, health workers have to be vaccinated, while a health pass is required for the public in specified social situations. There have been protests about this, although it is unlikely the government there will back down.
It is the city authorities of Moscow in Russia which have ordered that all workers who interface with the public have to be vaccinated, and in the US it is New York City which will become the first urban area to require from September 13 proof of vaccination for customers and staff at restaurants, gyms and other indoor businesses. This is in addition to the rules at a national level requiring federal workers to give proof of vaccination, or otherwise to be tested regularly, be forced to wear a mask and be subject to travel restrictions and regulations. States such as California have also introduced their own compulsory measures.
And it is not just developed countries, several of which have not been mentioned here, which have tilted towards making vaccination mandatory, but also nations such as Sri Lanka, Fiji, Indonesia, Lebanon and Micronesia, among others. Presumably the government in this country thinks that since this represents a trend across the world it will find acceptance here, but that is not necessarily the case; political and social circumstances in each territory can vary considerably.
As has been mentioned before in these columns, the issue is not a human rights one in the sense that everyone has a right to decide what goes into their body. In this instance the aim is not only to protect the person who is inoculated. If someone wants to take the risk of contracting Covid 19 and possibly dying from it, the state has no business interfering in a strictly personal decision. But if, as in this case, the risk for that one person is also a risk for everyone around them, then it becomes a societal issue in which the state very much has a right to intervene. What we do know about this virus is that the one route to controlling it is through mass vaccination, so that as few people as possible are left unvaccinated. Some people are completely asymptomatic or have very mild symptoms, but they can still transmit the disease as effectively as someone who is seriously ill.
While the government clearly has a very good moral case for making vaccination compulsory in certain circumstances, as said before in previous leaders at a practical level it really should be exhausting other options first – or now that it has already introduced the requirements – ensure that it goes on a massive campaign of converting people to the idea of having the jab and explaining why the rules are necessary. At the bottom of it all is the problem of trust – who to believe. And the government is simply not trusted, more especially in opposition areas.
We reported that at the protest people said they were standing up to the government’s “bullyism”, yet for all that some expressed the view that access to information which would allow them to decide on which vaccine they should choose was limited, and they called for educational outreaches across the country so the public could be informed. Not surprisingly too some of them referred to incidents they had seen on social media after people had had the vaccine. “They are not telling us the truth,” we quoted one woman as declaring. It is further evidence, if any were needed, of the power of fake information.
There was other evidence of a lack of accurate information, one teacher telling our reporter that the vaccine is still in a “young stage” so she was not ready to take it. It does seem, however, that some protestors there were not so much opposed to vaccination in principle, as that the government was forcing it on them. If so, then it might be that the government’s methods are counter-productive in relation to the ends they want to achieve.
This was the point made by one activist, Ms Odessa Primus, who is also a well-known comedienne and who argued for a softer approach. She said the government should engage people in creative arts to get the vaccination message across, since Guyanese came from different educational backgrounds and as such different avenues had to be explored in this regard. As an example she cited the limited reach of the TV programme ‘Your Doctor and Covid’ and we quoted her as saying, “We have this doctor talking about Covid but he is speaking from a level of education and what he is saying can only reach a certain [demographic]. No matter how eloquent the person is, only a certain level will understand; you have to meet people where they are and not where you are.”
MP Natasha Singh also called for a comprehensive educational campaign to be instituted across the country, adding that although the Ministry of Health claims it covers all regions, the information does not always reach those living in riverine and hinterland communities.
Her view was that the Ministry should look at its campaign strategy again, and like Ms Primus thought the creative sector should be involved in disseminating the message.
It is clear the Ministry of Health has learned nothing from the blocking of the Mackenzie-Wismar bridge a few weeks ago, and still believes the short-cut of mandatory requirements is the way to go. It is not, as said earlier, that in principle this is not justified, it is simply that in order to secure a level of acceptance for the measures people must be informed; social media fake information cannot be allowed to dominate the conversation in this instance. Without a much more creative approach to the information campaign, the government is in danger of putting people’s backs up so they refuse the vaccine no matter what the consequences. If that happens, it could affect the functioning of the schools, the health service and the ministries.
As for the presence of APNU+AFC MPs at the admittedly very small protest, one can only infer that their party is showing its hand. No matter the nonsensical posture of the PPP/C on recognition, the opposition should be out among its own constituents educating them on the importance of getting vaccinated. A former teacher, Ms Coretta McDonald should be able to help them on that front. It would certainly be more useful on her part than taking part in a demonstration. It hardly needs repeating, the virus does not respect political affiliation, ethnicity, race or nationality. There is only one route to some security for all of us: Vaccination.
