MOHWE revises entry protocols for fully vaccinated travellers

Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves believes that this country’s new COVID-19 protocols will make travel easier for persons who have already been fully vaccinated against the virus.

The Ministry of Health published a new Protocol for the Entry of Travellers to St Vincent and the Grenadines on February 23.

Included in the new protocols are revised conditions for travellers who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, having received the final dose at least four weeks prior to their travel.

These persons are required to present with documented evidence of full vaccination issued by a competent authority.

Travellers must arrive with a negative result of a COVID-19 (RT-PCR) test done no more than 72 before arrival and must be retested on arrival in SVG.

These vaccinated travellers must complete a mandatory seven-day quarantine period in a Tourism Authority/MOHWE approved transition/quarantine hotel at their cost. They must also be retested on day five of quarantine.

“I believe they’re doing that cautiously because they want to monitor it,” Gonsalves said while speaking on NBC radio on Wednesday morning.

In the United States, the Centre for Disease Control recently said fully vaccinated people would no longer be required to quarantine after being exposed to someone with COVID-19 if they received the final dose of the vaccine within the last three months and remain asymptomatic since exposure.

Gonsalves said on Wednesday that local health authorities “may get to that but I think they are being cautious and understandably so”.

All travellers from very high risk, high risk, medium and low risk countries are required to arrive in SVG with a negative PCR test done no more than 72 hours or three days before arrival.

According to this country’s most recent travel protocols, travellers from very high risk countries (Brazil and South Africa) must complete a mandatory 21-day quarantine period in an approved hotel at their own cost.

Travellers from high risk countries must mandatory quarantine for 14 days while travellers from medium risk countries must mandatory quarantine for seven days. Both mandatory periods must be completed at an approved hotel at the cost of the traveller.

For travellers from low risk countries, no quarantine is necessary if there is no evidence of onboard vessel exposure or if the traveller is not in a high-risk occupation.