King's House employees given a warning not to communicate with press after reports of a vax mandate surfaced. The Governor General's office has not answered if workers have been barred from the premises as a result of being unvaccinated. They have however indicated that “while we recognise the importance of the vaccine and encourage all Jamaicans to be vaccinated, we are cognisant of the individual choice in the matter".

Call to arms

King's House denies vax mandate; wields Secret Act over staff

KING’S HOUSE has denied reports that it has implemented a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, but has not clarified its current vaccination policy and reports that unvaccinated staff were barred from entering the property last week.

Last Tuesday, The Gleaner sought answers from the governor general’s office after receiving reports of actions of personnel at the gates of the St Andrew-based property, which is the official residence of the head of state.

Sir Patrick Allen represents Britain’s Queen Elizabeth as head of state locally.

“Due to the demands on the office today, we will not be able to meet your deadline of noon. We will, however, prepare a response for you by Friday,” was the emailed reply from Claudine Heaven, secretary to the governor general.

In a statement Friday evening, King’s House said it had no vaccine mandate policy “in effect”.

“The unique nature of this office, that of also being the official residence of the governor general, has been a major factor in the determination of health and safety measures being considered,” read the statement.

What those measures are is not clear, but it added: “While we recognise the importance of the vaccine and encourage all Jamaicans to be vaccinated, we are cognisant of the individual choice in the matter.”

However, King’s House did not shed light on its own internal requirements as asked. Neither did it speak to its staff complement and the number vaccinated. King’s House also did not respond to questions about whether any employee was denied entry to the state property last Tuesday morning.

The Sunday Gleaner understands that staff yet to take the COVID-19 jab are required to periodically submit negative PCR test results.

It has also emerged that in the wake of media enquiries last week,

King’s House reminded staff of the 1911 Official Secrets Act, warning them against speaking to the press.

“No staff is authorised to grant interviews or make any statements on behalf of the organisation,”

Heaven said in a memo, before pointing to the colonial-era law viewed as anti-transparency and one that past political administrations have committed to repealing.

Senior civil servants routinely wield the Official Secrets Act over workers to prevent them from revealing potential violations or wrongdoing.

Heaven did not remind the staff of another piece of legislation – the

Protected Disclosure Act, popularly called the whistle-blowing law – which promotes disclosure of information, albeit to authorised persons.

On Friday, Labour Minister Karl Samuda told The Sunday Gleaner that there was no provision in law allowing employers to compel workers to take vaccines, while trade unionist John Levy encouraged Jamaicans who feel wronged by vaccination policies in the workplace to take their grouse to the labour ministry.

There is deep-seated hesitancy and resistance to COVID-19 shots among Jamaicans with roughly 10 per cent of the island’s 2.9 million citizens being fully vaccinated. The Government is targeting having 1.9 million Jamaicans jabbed by the end of March 2022.

Prime Minister Andrew Holness signalled last week that his administration was close to making a decision on the possible imposition of vaccine requirements.

“We will announce the policies, which you know we are already in the process of deliberating, trying to refine them, to make sure that they make sense and they work. And when that time comes, you who are vaccinated, you will be fine,” he said.

Holness’ comments came after a call from the private sector for the Government to implement vaccine mandates.

Holness had previously argued that such requirements could be a distraction, but with the slow uptake and the dumping of close to 60,000 AstraZeneca doses, the prime minister has had to review his administration’s stance.

A big source of concern is resuming face-to-face teaching to cut the significant learning loss to students who are struggling with access to devices and Internet connectivity amid a worsening crisis of learning loss.

Public Defender Arlene Harrison Henry is against the imposition of a blanket vaccine mandate, but indicated that she was open to seeing how the Government would approach making the measure group-specific.

The Jamaican Bar Association, the main lobby for lawyers, has argued that mandatory vaccination would pass the constitutional test.

 

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