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GSD: Families of Unvaccinated People “Deserve to be Heard by Mr Picardo”

The GSD has said that families “need a voice” because their voice is “not being heard” by the Government led by Mr Picardo. The GSD says it  continues to receive reports of concerns from families who are not allowed to see their loved ones at ERS and the Hospital because of the blanket policy requiring vaccination for visitors.

A statement continued: “This is a new public health requirement. It was not a requirement before. It operates unfairly to exclude unvaccinated people from seeing their loved ones. Those people are happy to submit to Covid tests and to wear PPE or take other precautions. Surely it is the negative Covid test which is the most important measure?

“For the Government to bring up the sad fact that 94 lives were lost is not only a red herring but a repugnant attempt to play on the emotions of people to distract from the point. A large part of the persons who died sadly were residents of ERS and were infected during the outbreak in late December. The unfortunate fact is that we now know that members of staff were not being tested on a daily basis till 29 December 2020 when the vaccination programme had not even started. We know 148 staff members tested positive after 1 December as did 131 residents of ERS. ERS was only open for 6 days for visitors in mid-December. If the concern was putting in place the tightest measures possible why weren’t staff members swabbed daily In November or when ERS reopened. Why wait till it was too late. And why does the Government not see the contradiction in the fact that there are unvaccinated members of staff?

“The COVID outbreak in December and January in ERS was against a different backdrop. Now the vaccination programme has been rolled out, there is daily testing of staff (which presumably continues) and visitors are also tested. The risks of contracting the virus are much lower because of the vaccination programme. Proof of that is that we currently have ZERO resident cases. Against that backdrop ways could be found to allow unvaccinated but tested individuals to see their loved ones in hospital and ERS. That is the measured position of the GSD. The defensive response of the Government is nothing more than a smokescreen.

“How can the Government call the Opposition irresponsible when the Government itself were operating a looser system last year when most of us we were not vaccinated? Was it irresponsible during the time they had sanctioned that system or for them not to have arranged daily swabs of staff? The reality is that this is just no more than an attempt to undermine what is a measured call for people to be heard and for ways to be explored to help them. The Government have closed their minds for political reasons and that is affecting people and giving families unnecessary anxiety.”