Challenge to Vaccination Mandate

The leadership of the Public Service Union has announced it will challenge the vaccination mandate coming into effect December fifteenth. The mandate forces all public officers to get vaccinated against COVID-19. The decision taken by the Briceño administration has been met with fierce objection because some public officers believe this is a violation of their right to choose. On Monday, Public Service Minister Henry Charges Usher spoke to the media.

Henry Charles Usher

, Minister of Public Service, Constitutional Reform

“If they feel that they want to challenge the decision made by Cabinet, then they have the right it do so as well. I think it is important to understand that this wasn’t a decision that came about very easily. We took a long time; by we, I mean Cabinet. We spoke to the medical officers, we spoke to our team and we looked at what was happening around the world in terms of the decisions and the options taken by different jurisdictions and certainly it was felt by Cabinet that we have to improve the number of vaccinations in this country. I understand that people are still skeptical about the vaccinations. I encourage them to learn the facts, I encourage them to realize that it may not be a perfect tool, but it is a tool in the fight against COVID and certainly I want to protect the public officers as best I can. That they are skeptical that they believe that it is their right to choice being taken away, I am sorry to hear that. But certainly it is something that the Cabinet and myself as Minister of Public Service we felt that it was critical at this time.”