Does New COVID-19 Regulations Violate a Person’s Right?

Kareem Musa

Minister of Home Affairs Kareem Musa today responded to questions about the new quarantine regulations requiring biweekly results of a COVID-19 test if frontline workers do not get vaccinated by August first.   As we reported on Tuesday, there was concern that employers may threaten staff with termination if they are unwilling to get take the jab.  While there have been no such cases reported, Minister Musa was asked if the S.I. in any way violates a person’s right to chose.

Kareem Musa, Minister of Home Affairs

“It’s not forcing first of all, and that’s a huge misconception out there because we are not mandating anybody to take the vaccine. It is not mandatory that you take the vaccine, but at the same time we have to understand, we have to take ownership and be responsible in ourselves. In a pandemic such as this and this is all across the Caribbean, courts are looking at this already and realising that we have public health measures that are in place not to punish people; that’s not what we are trying to do. We are trying to save lives – quite the opposite of what everybody is perceiving these regulations to be. Because they say it is oppressive and why do you have us doing that? But it is actually to save lives. And so if it is challenged in the Caribbean, and I have seen legal opinions that say it is actually not unconstitutional to make it mandatory to get vaccinations. But again, we are not even there, we are not even discussing that. All we are saying it to take one harmless test in the event you choose not to get your vaccination. And so because it is a public health measure in a time of a serious pandemic such as this one, I would be very surprised to hear court say that it is unconstitutional that you have a negative test.”

And the public may be surprised to learn that according to Minister Musa, the tests are available for free at public health facilities across the country for frontline workers.