(Trinidad Guardian) Government is giving serious consideration to converting the Public Service into safe zones as it struggles to convince more citizens to get vaccinated.
And with COVID-19 cases averaging 788 daily in the last week, mandating vaccinations could soon become a reality.
Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley told Guardian Media in an exclusive interview on Friday at the Prime Minister’s residence in Tobago, that “government will have to do what is reasonable and feasible in order to give us the best protection in a pandemic.”
In the last three weeks, 436 people have died from COVID, six of those being children. Roughly, 21 people die daily.
Dr Rowley explained that government may want to expand the safe-zone initiative that has been implemented in restaurants and bars to other areas of the economy.
When pressed further about the specific areas, he said, “the Public Service is one of those areas.”
According to him, this is a space where a large number of people interact. “The use of the safe zone approach is under consideration and participation in there might be one of the areas where the government can expect to influence more people to change their behaviour or their participation,” he said.
Told that this resembled a push towards mandating vaccines, Dr Rowley insisted the government would do what is reasonable and feasible.
Asked whether this would mean that state sector employees could only come to work if they are vaccinated, Dr Rowley said “the considerations are there.”
A growing number of countries are making shots compulsory for public servants and other workers. Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Italy and dozens of other countries have taken steps that require people must be vaccinated to work in the public sector or access its services. The Prime Minister maintained during the interview that government will not return to restrictions on movement or businesses because of the devastating and costly impact on the economy.
But with roughly half of the population vaccinated and cases and deaths reaching record numbers, when will the government make a decision on its next move?
“I am concerned at the acceptance of 20 or 30 people dying every day and that being accepted as the norm,” he lamented.
“If we know that what is fuelling that situation is the large number of unvaccinated people in the country, then the time is likely to come when it is that development that is going to cause the government to make a decision. Can we just accept every day that 20 or 30 people will die and go on like normal?” he asked.
When asked when will government draw the line, the Prime Minister said this will be determined “by a government that decides enough is enough or that we’ve done the best we can, and we need to get better results.”
“We cannot just accept that we are going to go on indefinitely saying that that is how the pandemic is going to pan out in Trinidad and Tobago where we just get people dying every day until such time as there are no more people to be killed.”
Dr Rowley insisted his administration’s approach has been one of cooperation with citizens, using the approach of persuasion. But he said while the government has not gone down the road of mandate, “it does not mean that we will not.”
During an address to the nation on November 25, 2021, Dr Rowley announced the government would consider reopening beaches on a limited scale in time for Christmas.
The prime minister says a firm decision will be made soon based on health experts’ advice.
“I did say by Christmas hopefully. We will do what we can do once the risk is reasonable. I am currently looking at that based on the advice that is coming from the health department and the government will make a decision.”
On the possibility of Carnival on a limited scale, not much has changed, but there will be no street parade. However, there will be the possibility of safe zone shows.
While some have been clamouring for Carnival 2022, the Prime Minister reminded them of the daily case numbers saying “your desire to wine on somebody is low down on the totem pole of priorities.”
The Prime Minister expressed concern about thousands of primary school children who have been out of school for almost two years.
Children between the ages of 5 and 12 are not eligible for vaccines and therefore the government has kept them home while their older peers have returned to the classroom.
“How do we get children to develop during the pandemic without overly exposing them to risk or damage?” he asked.
An assessment of the decision to mix vaccinated and unvaccinated students will be done soon to determine whether this increased the risk of exposure or whether it means that vaccinated and unvaccinated children can interact with little negative impact.
