Ministry of Well being to ascertain identification system for vaccinated tourism employees

From Orville Williams

[email protected]

To ensure the safety of visitors while on vacation in Antigua and Barbuda, the Ministry of Health will set up an identification system that will disclose the vaccination status of companies and individuals working in the tourism sector.

An example of this ID system can be found in the vaccination cards for people receiving doses, domestically and abroad, that are presented to immigration officials at immigration offices around the world to ensure vaccination status.

It differs from this forthcoming Ministry of Health project in that visitors do not have to ask anyone to show the “vaccine IDs”, but rather that they are displayed on both the employees and the offices.

Information Secretary Melford Nicholas outlined the details of the upcoming project in the post-cabinet press conference on Thursday.

“With the return of cruise tourism, many of the Heritage Quay shops that are now closed would be given some sort of badge – presumably in a very visible way on their windows – to indicate this [in] In these stores, the employees are fully vaccinated.

“This seal of approval is given by the Ministry of Health after the inspection and after they have verified that all employees have actually been vaccinated.

“The same goes for the taxis themselves, not just for the taxi drivers, but also for the taxi vehicles that can display these emblems.

It was announced just this week that some taxi operators are already being questioned by visitors about their vaccination status, which means this identification project is a smart call as the country is just weeks away from welcoming cruises.

The possibility of violations in the system was also not ignored. Nicholas added that the IDs to be given to each operator need to be carefully planned.

The idea is to make this identification unique to the individual so that it cannot be shared. [but] the final version of it is not [yet] in the.

With competition for tourist arrivals increasing across the region, authorities hope these measures will be enough for those tourists who want to soak up some sun but are still safe.