CHARLOTTE AMALIE — The U.S. Virgin Islands government agency with the second-most employees says it will follow a sweeping new federal plan to fight COVID-19 that requires teachers and healthcare workers to be vaccinated, among other measures announced by President Joe Biden last week.
“We will implement the president’s mandates in line with directives provided by our federal funders. Our team members have been provided with sufficient information about COVID-19 to make informed choices about whether to vaccinate and to accept the potential consequences of their choices,” Virgin Islands Human Services Commissioner Kimberley Causey-Gomez said on Friday.
Among a sprawling list of services, Causey-Gomez’s department is responsible for the territory’s nursing homes and Head Start early education facilities, whose staff will now be required to be vaccinated or face the loss of funding.
Neither Government House nor the Virgin Islands Education Department responded Friday to requests for comment about Biden’s plan and how or if they will implement the measures. The territory’s hospitals already have a vaccine mandate in place, though it is being challenged in Virgin Islands Superior Court.
“We, at the Department of Human Services, are one of the primary safety net agencies of the V.I. government,” Causey-Gomez said. “We provide a wide array of services to our most vulnerable populations from birth to burial and on a daily basis we strive to protect those that may not be in a position to protect themselves.”
Causey-Gomez was in multiple meetings Friday and responded to a request for comment via text message.
“Throughout this COVID pandemic, we have done our best to navigate the challenges presented by personal choice versus communal responsibilities as it relates to the safety of our staff and our clients, especially our clients in our residential facilities and our littlest people,” Causey-Gomez said.
Under Biden’s mandate, vaccines will be required for workers in most healthcare settings that receive Medicare or Medicaid reimbursement, including hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis facilities, ambulatory surgical settings and home health agencies, including volunteers and staff not involved in direct patient or client care, according to the White House.
The plan also calls on governors to mandate vaccinations for all teachers and school staff. According to the White House, nine states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have such requirements in place for K-12 school staff, including California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Washington.
The Biden administration also is calling on all schools to set up regular testing for students, teachers and staff, and has said it will dedicate nearly $2 billion to spend on rapid tests for community health centers and schools.
V.I. Delegate to Congress Stacey Plaskett said “the wartime spirit and science-based plan reflects the Biden administration’s whole-of-government approach and unwavering commitment to defeat the deadly virus at home and abroad” as cases continue to surge across the nation, thanks to the highly contagious Delta variant and low vaccination rates – particularly in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
“I am thankful that we have a president that is keeping his commitment to the American people that he’d do everything in his power to defeat the virus. I am very concerned about my fellow Virgin Islanders however, as recent reports show that the U.S. Virgin Islands has the lowest vaccination rate in the United States and therefore, we now have the highest rate of infection per day, per capita in the United States,” Plaskett said in a statement.
“Why my people cannot see the correlation between the two statistics and how these unfortunate realities are not just hindering our children’s ability to learn and our long-term health outcomes, but also causing actual death is beyond me,” said Plaskett.
“Vaccination is not about your personal right to choose. When we make the choice to live with others in a community, in a society with rules and norms, we must make decisions that support the entire community – vaccination is such a choice,” said Plaskett.
The delegate’s comments came as the V.I. Health Department reported two more COVID-19 deaths on Friday, bringing the total to 65 since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, with half of those occurring since mid-June and the rise of the Delta variant. As of Friday, there were 215 active cases, the vast majority caused by close contact or community transmission. Meanwhile, about 52 percent of the territory’s population is fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is up slightly from recent weeks.