The local clergyman was at the time speaking on the Tuesday, February 23, 2021, edition of the Honestly-Speaking radio show on ZBVI 780 AM.

"How are you going to be in the hospital's sensitive area, in pharmacies, doctors private offices working, whether you are a receptionist or the nurse or the doctor, and not be vaccinated? Do you not trust the very science in which you practice?”

Claude O. Skelton-Cline was at the time speaking on the Tuesday, February 23, 2021, edition of the Honestly-Speaking radio show when he questioned what measures should be in place should frontline workers refuse vaccination.

State of education

Pointing to the education system, Skelton-Cline related that both children and education have been in a state of ‘fright’ since the hurricanes of 2017, now compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic and teachers ought to be prepared for the frontline.

He said the country will be in peril should there be a re-opening without herd immunity to the vaccine, especially in frontline workers.

“It is time for a public conversation around the subject of mandatory vaccination for frontline workers, including teachers, and if it is the case that your personal conviction is to not be vaccinated then what do we have in place that allows you to step back from the frontline?” Skelton-Cline questioned.

Minister for Health and Social Development, Hon Carvin Malone (AL) gets vaccinated against COVID-19.

To make mandator or not?

He related that persons on the frontline who are unwilling to get vaccinated should be relegated in favour of persons who are willing to get vaccinated and service VI’s tourism product and education.

“I'm asking the question, are we at a stage where we should make this vaccination mandatory if you intend to work in these posts , in these offices, on the frontline?”

The commentator, who has always advocated for vaccination against COVID-19, argued that the hard work of keeping the Territory safe should not be made futile.

“I think that it's time to have an honest conversation about the state of affair of this country as it relates to vaccinations because right now all the hard work that we have done, all the sacrifices that have been made, we are now putting ourselves in peril.”