Health Minister supports private testing for unvaccinated employees; says Gov’t cannot afford it

If employees do not want to get the COVID-19 vaccines that are freely available to all adults then they should pay the approximately $20,000 to get the PCR COVID-19 test required regularly by their workplaces.

This is the view of Health Minister Dr. Frank Anthony.

A memorandum from the Office of the Regional Health Officer- Region Four, seen by the News Room, stated that all staff must present proof of vaccination or present a negative PCR test every three days.

Importantly, it was stated that tests from the Health Ministry’s National Public Health Reference Laboratory would not be accepted.

When asked about this memorandum on Wednesday, the Health Minister stated that the tests from the National Public Health Reference Laboratory should only be used for people who may have been exposed to the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19.

“We would not be doing tests for persons who have an option.

“They could easily get a vaccine or if they are required by employment to get a PCR, they will have to do so privately,” the Minister said.

The Minister explained that it costs the government about US $100 or GY $20,000 for one PCR test, and that this money comes from taxpayers’ dollars.

As such, he opined that this money should not be spent to offer these public tests to employees whose employers require them to be vaccinated or regularly tested.

He also made an impassioned appeal for all eligible individuals to get their COVID-19 vaccines and protect themselves and their loved ones.

Importantly, he said that the new Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes the disease, COVID-19) would easily overwhelm the local health system- as it has been doing abroad.

The CNN reported that China is grappling with its worst outbreak in months, with more than 300 cases detected in more than two dozen cities across the country; the most since the initial outbreak in early 2020.

Additionally, according to the latest data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 90 per cent of new coronavirus infections across the U.S. are from the delta variant.