By Deandrea Hamilton & Dana Malcolm

Editorial Staff

#TurksandCaicos, December 20, 2022 – Even as the United Kingdom and the rest of the Caribbean move away from vaccine mandates the Turks and Caicos is still clinging to a rule which bars unvaccinated travellers from entering the islands, including those coming in on cruise ships. On Monday, December 19, the TCI Cabinet approved an extension to the Covid-19 vaccine mandate which should have expired on December 31^st, enforcing it three extra months. It now expires on March 31 2023.

On Monday, Magnetic Media had reached out to Shaun Malcolm, current Minister of Health for an update on the mandate and whether it would be allowed to expire to no avail. Upon learning that the mandate had been extended, our news organization reached out again and again, there was no reply to the query.

As it stands now, the Turks and Caicos, heavily reliant upon travel and tourism is the only British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean holding on to the COVID vaccine mandate as a travel entry requirement according to the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association. It is in fact the only Caribbean country listed by the CHTA as still requiring that travellers be fully vaccinated for the coronavirus.

The Ministry of Health has always maintained that it is ‘following the science’ when it comes to decisions on the coronavirus.  It has also been strongly intimated, and in some decisions stated by officials that the TCI is following the United Kingdom’s lead in the national response to the pandemic.

This latest decision elicits, however, a new string of questions from residents who are asking for a “reveal” of the evidence guiding the move to continue the mandate.  Many feel the rule has run its course and overstayed its welcome.

Stacy Cox, CEO of the Turks and Caicos indirectly confirmed that the vaccine mandate sets TCI apart as a competing tourism destination, expressing earlier this month that bookings for the Christmas season could not be readily calculated “due to us being one of the only islands in the Caribbean that still has a vaccinated guest-only policy for entry while our competitors have dropped all requirements, advertising aggressively and are fully open for business.”

The mandate has also brokered ill-will between the country and unvaccinated homeowners who have not been able to see their luxury investments in over a year.  Some of them have reached out to Magnetic Media, frustrated over the decision to treat them as visitors for whom the inoculation is mandatory.

No indication was given that they were considered at Cabinet and former Health Minister Jamell Robinson told us previously that schemes he had created to facilitate them had been rebuffed.

A Carnival Cruise Line blogger has added insight to the fall out about the prolonged vaccine mandate.  Writing that among the top concerns about destination Grand Turk is the non-existent access unvaccinated cruisers have to the island.

But Government’s reluctance to alter the steady progress since the early days of the pandemic and the onslaught of Omicron could be attributed to the record setting tourism arrivals, boom in real estate sales and TCIs ability to freeze COVID deaths to 36 along with very low numbers of new cases – 17 as of December 13.  Those in favour of the mandate say it is a rule which has not hurt tourism and may be helping to protect a fragile public health system.

Despite, there is new uncertainty about the fate and expectation of expatriate workers, all of whom were required to take the vaccine in order to have their work permits renewed or granted.

There was no indication, in the Cabinet report, whether the law mandating work permit holders to be fully vaccinated would be drawn back or upheld.

Permanent Secretary of Health has promised a statement in the coming days.