TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO PUBLIC SERVANTS MUST GET VACCINATED OR FACE NO PAY LEAVE

By a Staff Reporter: By mid-January, all public servants and employees at state agencies in Trinidad and Tobago, including national security, will be required to be vaccinated to go to work or they can choose to stay home without pay. This was just one of the major announcements made by the Prime Minister on Saturday during a press conference.

And from December 24 to January 2, the public service, except essential services, will be shut down to mitigate the spread of the covid19 virus and allow people to get vaccinated. He emphasized that this is not a time to congregate but a time to stay at home and protect one’s self from unnecessary exposure

Dr. Rowley stressed that, because of the increasing number of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths, as well as the low vaccination numbers, the government had to intervene to encourage people to get vaccinated and increase the country’s vaccination rate which has lingered in the mid-forties for weeks. He repeatedly said he took the oath of office to “act without fear or favor, without malice or ill will” so he made the decision to “take action” and “create safe zones” in the public sector.

The policy applies to government health workers, ministries, national security – police, prisons, and defense force – government school employees, including teachers, and the Tobago House of Assembly.