Head of the Grenada Senate- Senator Chester Humphrey, speaking independently on the virtual programme, pleaded with his fellow trade union heads here in SVG and across the region to push for programs to drive vaccination uptake.
Humphrey noted the heavy death toll in the french speaking Caribbean islands, highlighting Guadeloupe where at present the healthcare system is said to be overloaded due to high Covid numbers. The local morgues which are full are no longer able to house bodies resulting in forty foot cooler containers being used to house the dead.
Humphrey painted the bleak picture as he shared that infection rates and the death toll is now rising among the unvaccinated. Vaccination, he said, is the only way to curb the ongoing pandemic, noting that now is not the time for politics as lives hang in the balance.
The Grenadian senator lamented that any grievances with government mandates should be taken before the court.
Citing a recent case brought before the court in the United States by a union against the mandatory vaccination of medical staff, where the union lost and the mandatory vaccination was upheld, Humphrey stressed the importance of Covid-19 vaccination in certain environments, especially in a hospital setting.