BASSETERRE, St.Kitts (Friday 12th March 2021)- ‘Does a company have the right to mandate its employees to take the vaccine?’ was a question posed to health authorities at the National Emergency Operations Centre (NEOC) COVID-19 Briefing held on Wednesday 10th  March 2021.
 
In responding, the Chief Medical Officer and member of the National COVID-19 Task Force Dr. Hazel Laws had this to say: “That’s a very interested question. Let me begin by saying that in the Federation taking the vaccine is not mandatory.”
 
She continued: “However, an entity, an organization can conduct a risk assessment in terms of what the risk for exposure to the virus in terms of its employees and clients and if that risk is high given the nature of the business that employee, that company can strongly encourage its staff members to take the vaccine because of they do not, the risk of exposure to the employees and to the organization would be significant…”
 
Dr. Laws emphasized that while it is not mandatory, workers can be encouraged to take the vaccine to protect themselves and clients.
 
“so it’s  not mandatory, however, the organization  can do a risk assessment  and  if the risk of exposure to the virus is high,  an ethical position can be made or taken and you could encourage your employees to be vaccinated because it would protecting themselves, protecting their clients etc.”