OECS leaders backed Bryan’s request to DeSantis on cruise vaccination rules

The Organization of Eastern Caribbean States backed Gov. Albert Bryan Jr.'s request that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reconsider a Florida law barring cruise ships departing from the state from requiring proof of COVID-19 vaccination.

In a letter sent to Bryan and released on June 17, 2021, OECS Chairman Roosevelt Skerrit, the prime minister of Dominica, said he was writing on behalf of regional leaders including the heads of government of Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, the British Virgin Islands, Grenada, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, as well as officials from Guadeloupe, Martinique and the OECS.

Skerrit said the group was concerned that the Florida policy could undermine efforts to protect public health and revive tourism-dependent economies in the eastern Caribbean. He said the OECS would advance those arguments and urge partners in the cruise and land-based tourism industries to appeal to DeSantis.

Government House said Bryan had written to DeSantis during the week of June 7, 2021, arguing that the Florida law conflicted with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance and could endanger Caribbean populations visited by cruise ships while straining limited health-care resources in the region.

Official source: https://www.vi.gov/eastern-caribbean-states-throw-support-behind-governor-bryans-request-to-florida-governor-desantis/