by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts-Nevis (WINN) – “Do I think it will become a requirement for travel? I do think at some point it will but I think it will be a phased approach,” CEO of the St. Kitts Tourism Authority Rachel Brown said in response to a question about vaccines on the Tuesday March 1 edition of Leadership Matters.
Governments globally have stated that vaccines are not directly mandatory/compulsory; but what is stopping institutions, airlines and other facets of society from making vaccinations indirectly mandatory?
There already exist policies concerning vaccinations for diseases like yellow fever and smallpox when travelling to and from certain countries; and with medical officials advising that the COVID-19 pandemic will be around for some time, vaccinations in order to travel may not be far off.
In other avenues we are seeing suggestions of vaccinations to participate in certain events or allowed in certain spaces being implemented.
Other countries have instituted passes or identifiers that allow vaccinated citizens to access certain amenities.
In Israel shopping malls and stores with street access re-opened with limitations on crowd size; but gyms, swimming pools, hotels and some cultural facilities are re-opening only to those who have been fully vaccinated and obtained the so-called green pass.
“With respect to the vaccinations cards, or they are now called vaccination passports becoming a requirement for international travel. That certainly is on the discussion [table] in many centers of the world at this particular moment in time. And we know Israel, Israel right now is one of the [leaders] in the build out of vaccinations around the world,” Prime Minister Dr. Timothy Harris stated on the possibility of vaccination requirements.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) also suggested an IATA travel pass, “A global and standardized solution to validate and authenticate all country regulations regarding COVID-19 passenger travel requirements,” as described on their site.
Here at home in St. Kitts-Nevis a recent Facebook post from the St. Kitts-Nevis National Carnival Committee (SKNNCC) posted a flyer for Sugar Mas 50.
