‘This Is Tyranny At Its Best’: Leading Gozitan Restaurateur Lashes Out At New Vaccination Entry Rules
A leading Gozitan restaurateur has called out the government’s new vaccination entry rules that came into effect yesterday.
This comes as Malta has officially made the decision to limit where people can set foot, depending on whether they have received all three doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, with many not being able to enter the majority of establishments.
“This Green COVID-19 Pass is more about a control exercise rather than about positive health or business measures,” Café Jubilee owner Anthony Scicluna wrote in a Facebook post.
Scicluna also described what’s currently happening as “another stab in the back”, and expressed his anger and disapproval.
The lengthy Facebook post went into pretty much every aspect of the new entry rules, and Scicluna shared his views on them.
1. “Only vaccine certificates which can be verified through digital means are acceptable.”
“So, if a person in possession of his booster vaccination card cannot be allowed entry. If an elder citizen who is not able to access his/her digital certificate on the mobile phone (assuming they have one that is) has to be denied entry as well,” Scicluna lamented.
“And what about those who have just taken their booster? Do they need to wait for 14 days before they can dine in a restaurant?”
2. “Our staff is responsible for the verification of these Digital Green Passes not only by means of an electronic device.”
“We are also obliged to verify this against a presentation of the id card for each and every customer. I’m sorry to say, but apart from being time-consuming to the detriment of the whole restaurant dining experience, we are now being forced to do the authority’s job instead.”
“We have, all of a sudden, become civil servants. After two years of battling with near-financial bankruptcy, will the government be compensating us, restaurateurs, now for the extra manpower involved in administering the Health Authority’s job?”
3. “The CovPassMalta app is only available on an android phone.”
“So, what happens for those who do not have an extra phone around? Or what if I do not have an android phone at all? Am I forced to buy one in all my establishments?” he questioned.
“Again, at who’s expense!? If I am doing the Health Authority their own job, shouldn’t the Health Authority provide us with the proper equipment to do their job?”
4. “What about unvaccinated persons?”
“There is nothing mentioned in the guidelines apart from ‘only persons with a valid and recognized vaccine certificate will be allowed access in the establishments’.”
“So, does someone who can provide a negative PCR or Rapid Test be denied entry as well then?”
“Who are you kidding? Isn’t this oppression,” he said.
He described the establishment entry requirements as a burden to all businesses involved, and also said that it shows a total disregard for the owners “who have been suffering so much every time they are imposed with new measures”. He also said that a lack of appropriate planning comes to mind.
As the country grapples with the concern of discrimination being brought on by the new entry rules, Scicluna is not the first to open up about the effects that the new measures are bringing with them, with Manouche’s owner yesterday similarly speaking out.
What do you make of this?
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