Tobago stakeholders: Government must make vaccinations mandatory

Tobago's business stakeholders have welcomed the Government's decision to reopen the retail sector and National Lotteries Control Board (NLCB online gaming outlets.

But they believe that as more sectors reopen, the Government may soon have to consider drafting legislation to make vaccinations mandatory.

"It is a move in the right direction because we have to live with the virus. And those who are not vaccinated will have to get vaccinated. That is our only protection against death and hospitalisation," Tobago Hotel and Tourism Association vice-president Carol-Ann Birchwood-James told Sunday Newsday. "But the state has to know what they are going to do. If they are going to make the vaccinations mandatory or not because that is the trend in all of the countries now. That is the way I see it."

At Saturday's covid19 media briefing, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced that NLCB outlets and the retail sector will reopen on August 9 and 16, respectively.

Birchwood-James said if legislation is not drafted, it may be difficult to reopen bars and other recreational venues.

"You have to make it mandatory so that when people enter the bar they can present their vaccination card or electronic pass issued bu the state for them to get to the bars," she said.

Birchwood-James said further reopenings must be guided by some legal framework to govern vaccinations.

"We have to protect lives and livelihoods and this economy has to get going again. It is time to open up everybody and put things in place for bars and gyms, even Carnival fetes. We have to put things in place from now because we cannot ban things forever," she said.

Although welcoming the Government's latest announcements, Tobago Chamber of Industry & Commerce president Diane Hadad wondered if mechanisms would be implemented at NLCB's outlets to identify whether agents and employees have been vaccinated.

"The news that NLCB opens Monday, a week before the retail sector still has its question marks around it because how do they know that the NLCB agents and their staff have all been vaccinated?" she asked.

Hadad also wondered how they would identify vaccinated customers.

"So, the vaccination being aligned to reopening doesn't add up."

Hadad lamented that some businessmen may not be in a financial position to reopen. "The other issue is that hopefully people are in a financial situation to be able to restart businesses that have been closed for so long." She also appealed to landlords and the financial sector to work with people who have been unable to meet their financial commitments during the lockdown.

Hadad said citizens may not have the disposable income to sustain these businesses "to get us out of this big hole that we are in."