Forced inoculation of students was a short-term move, says Browne, as he boasts about the numbers who complied

The mandatory vaccination of school children was always intended to last a short period, and has achieved his objectives, says Prime Minister Gaston Browne.

While Ministry of Education officials wished for all students to return to the classroom, the Cabinet felt it would cause no harm to implement the forced mandate for a week, Browne says. 

Parents and pundits have disagreed with Browne and his Cabinet,  however.  They say that being denied the opportunity to learn, even for a week, is detrimental to children whose education has been disrupted since last March.

Despite the criticism, the Prime Minister boasts that the vaccination mandate did, in fact, produce the results he wanted.   He says that over 2,500 students were inoculated, and claims that this has created herd immunity in the secondary schools.

Browne says that about 85 per cent of the secondary population has been vaccinated, to date, based on information from the Ministry of Health.

Unvaccinated students who have been tested for the virus are expected to resume in-person learning today, November 22.