St Vincent and the Grenadines Teachers’ Union confirmed on Thursday that a number of teachers have been fired for failing to take a COVID-19 vaccine without medical or religious exemptions as mandated.
According to CMC News, as of Wednesday, 12, teachers had informed the union that they had received dismissal letters.
“We expect that more would come in today and we are monitoring very closely what is happening, but the union’s commitment is to assist all of its members, both vaccinated and unvaccinated,” the union’s president Oswald Robinson said, adding that a number of the teachers had indicated that they had not received any salary for December.
“Salaries are supposed to be paid today and some people have already checked and they have not received any salary.”
The government’s vaccine mandate would subject frontline workers, including teachers, to being absent without leave once they are not fully vaccinated – even if they arrive to work.