The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Tourism operators yesterday had a mixed reaction to giving industry workers priority for COVID-19 vaccinations, with some agreeing as others urged caution.

Muna Issa, SuperClubs Breezes managing director, told Tribune Business all tourism workers should be classified as front line workers including taxi drivers, transport operators, airport employees and persons that work at visitor attractions.

She added that treating these workers as “priority” for COVID-19 vaccinations will “assist in The Bahamas as a whole being perceived as a safe destination, and the image of The Bahamas will be elevated. As it is, our positive cases are low when compared to other competing islands, and this is due to the bitter pill we all had to swallow to get to this point”.

Ms Issa was reacting to Dionisio D’Aguilar, minister for tourism and aviation, who told Tribune Business on Monday that tourism workers should be a “priority” for vaccinations as this is the best way to open the industry and wider Bahamian economy and return them to something resembling normal operations.

However, not all tourism industry players believe The Bahamas should charge ahead with vaccinations for tourism industry workers. Wesley Ferguson, the Bahamas Taxi Cab Union’s (BTCU) president, said that while it might be a priority to vaccinate persons in the tourism sector, “we have still not had any collaboration with the government or the minister of health to educate us on the potency of the vaccine and what might the side effects be?”

Mr Ferguson added: “We are not sure what are their exact plans on rolling out the vaccine programme, and who should be prioritised and who should not. We have not had any kind of contact with the officials at the Ministry of Health at all.

“As a union leader, I cannot in good conscience encourage my membership or taxi drivers to take a vaccine that I know very little about. I have no means of communicating with the government to follow up to soften the blow or to educate my people, because I myself as a union leader don’t know much about the vaccine.”

Alfredo Bridgewater, owner/operator of Coco Nutz in Freeport, backed Mr Ferguson while arguing that the AstraZeneca vaccine recently procured by the government may be an untested or inferior product; “I can only speak for myself, because I would prefer to have a proven product. To me, the side effects far outweigh the actual death rate from the COVID-19,” he added.

The AstraZeneca vaccine has a 79 percent effectiveness rate and is being rolled out in the US this week. There had been fears that it caused blood-clotting in some three European countries, but the World Health Organisation (WHO) said it has found no such link and gave this vaccine version the go-ahead for continued use.

However, Mr Bridgewater insisted: “I feel as if when we get stuff, it is always the inferior stuff. For example, when there was a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) at the onset, it was a long time before we could have gotten PPE’s in the country, and now you have people volunteering the vaccine to us? In my opinion I don’t think anyone should rush into this just yet. I don’t like feeling like a lab rat.”

Vernon Moss, general manager of the Sandy Port Beach Resort, who took the vaccine last weekend, said he feels fine and wants the government to press ahead with offering it to all front-line workers in the tourism industry. Mr Moss added: “This is a great idea; I support Mr D’Aguilar 100 percent.”

He warned that people should be patient with the vaccine, and they have a right to know as much about the vaccine as can be provided. “The CDC (Centres for Disease Control) said the vaccine is safe and we get a lot of our information from the US. They said it is OK; the vaccine is 79 percent effective. I think that is a good percentage,” Mr Moss added.

“Hospitality workers should be vaccinated as soon as possible. We can do all of the vulnerable at the same time, the senior citizens and hotel workers. I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time.”

Dwayne Mackey, owner of Bahamas Coastal Charters, said: “I think vaccinating persons in the tourism industry as a priority is only protocol and I think that’s only right. I think that’s the only safety net we have here moving forward, and I think everyone should be vaccinated once the all-clear has been given for the vaccination.

“All of us want to get back to normalcy and the vaccination being here is a plus for us. I think frontline workers should get vaccinated first; the persons who come directly in contact with the tourists or who have to deal with persons on a regular basis like doctors, medical facilities, ambulance drivers and people like that who pick up these patients when they have contracted the virus.

“Then I would say maybe the taxi drivers or the tour providers like myself, who deal with tourists as they come off of the ship, and then I would say the hotel workers should of course be in that bracket.”