PSC calls for unvaccinated workers to provide negative COVID-19 test results

Recognising the growing cases of COVID-19 infections and deaths in Guyana, the Private Sector Commission (PSC) has called for Government to initiate a requirement of having all medical and security personnel be vaccinated or provide evidence of a medically current COVID-19 negative test.

In a statement on Tuesday, the Private Sector body said places providing hospitality and entertainment services, including restaurants, should require evidence of either vaccination or a medically current COVID-19 negative test from its customers in order for them to receive service.
This stance comes at a time when COVID-19 infections and deaths are reported in persons who are not fully vaccinated, and affects Government’s ‘sterling’ efforts to obtain vaccinations for people in an effort to achieve herd immunity for the nation.
As such, the PSC has said, “The Private Sector Commission embraces and recommends that its member companies require that all those of its employees who refuse to be vaccinated must provide evidence of a medically current COVID-19 negative test from infection before reporting to work, while continuing to encourage all of its employees to become vaccinated.”
The organisation contended in its missive that there is extensive and growing judicial opinion within the Caribbean and internationally that individual rights do not override the collective right of the community when the community as a whole is threatened.
Allusions were also made to the recent position taken by Franch President Emmanuel Macron and the Government of Belize, which outlines that those who refuse to be vaccinated are putting the rest of the population at risk.
The Commission endorsed the position taken by the Adviser to the Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, where he was quoted as saying, “If you want to exercise a right to not take the vaccine, you must be prepared to face the consequences”, and that, “While someone has the right to refuse the vaccine, those persons do not have a right to expose the rest of us to their reckless risks.
“The Private Sector Commission is ready and willing to support all and any action taken by our Government that will serve to protect our population from the surge of this pandemic, inclusive of a comprehensive policy to be ‘gazetted’, which will ensure that vaccinated citizens are protected against exposure from those who exercise the freedom to refuse to be vaccinated,” the statement expressed.