Will protest action heighten in Guyana, as unvaccinated healthcare workers continue to be denied entry into health centers across the region? Over the past three weeks, following the Ministry of Health’s countrywide enforcement of the ‘no vaccine, no entry’ policy — nurses, doctors, ancillary, administrative staff and other employees were locked out of Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation (GPHC) and the Linden Hospital Complex (LHC) for failing to produce a COVID-19 Vaccination Card. Unvaccinated Members of staff of the Charles Rosa School of Nursing were also sent home.

Guyana’s Health Minister, Dr. Frank Anthony, is of the view that a person’s human rights must not be tampered with, however, he cautioned that at times, individual rights have to ‘yield to the collective’ in order to keep an entire population safe.

Guyana Public Service Union (GPSU) and the Guyana Bauxite and General Workers Union (GB&GWU) stood in solidarity with the unvaccinated workers, stating that they are well in their rights to report for duty. The union representatives stated that they would be taking the necessary legal action if their employment is further threatened. GPSU is of the view that the Covid-19 vaccines should not be mandatory.

 “We will peacefully picket right here, we not moving, we got to send a strong message because we not moving, we are nobody’s lab rat and we are nobody’s test tube and we not gon sit down and take what they push down we throat, we want equal rights and justice. If we don’t get equal rights, we gon stand in the same position forever, we need to take our grounds,” one staff member said.