The Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir this morning disallowed an Opposition request to move a motion to discuss citizens who are unvaccinated against COVID-19 being denied access to government services.
Opposition Leader Joe Harmon wanted to raise the issue as a matter of urgent public importance. The Speaker said it was not an urgent matter.
During his brief statement to the House, the Opposition Leader said the new gazetted measures have been impacting a significant section of the population, particularly, citizens who are not vaccinated.
“Those measures Mr. Speaker, severely hamper the ability of the people of Guyana to access public and government services,” Mr. Harmon said.
The Opposition leader said government agencies and organizations have taken it upon themselves to impose additional measures on the Guyanese people beyond the orders which have been gazetted citing an order from the Ministry of Health which mandates vaccination for all of the Ministry’s staff as well as contractors and vendors engaged with the Ministry.
“So Mr. Speaker while the order itself is very tight, what has happened is that these Ministries and other agencies have actually enlarged upon it, they have taken upon themselves and it is causing a serious problem to Guyanese people”, Harmon contended.
The Government order has seen some government agencies sending unvaccinated staff members home, while the public hospitals have locked their gates on persons who are unvaccinated.
The Georgetown Public Hospital last week said only unvaccinated emergency cases will be allowed entry.
“Mr. Speaker this matter is urgent,” Harmon continued, adding “And as acted on the compliance with the order, citizens have now been locked out of the places of employment,” Harmon told the house.
While the government continues to say its vaccination programme is not mandatory, the latest order is forcing persons to get vaccinated if they want to conduct business with the government or visit any government Ministry or agency.
In other parts of the Caribbean, mandatory vaccination has triggered widespread protests.
In the past week, protests have erupted in St. Vincent, Antigua and Barbados over the issue.
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