Shopkeepers must be Covid vaccinated: Arakan State military council

By DMG 18 Mar 2022

DMG Newsroom
18 March 2022, Sittwe

The Arakan State military council has made it mandatory for shopkeepers at markets across Arakan State to be vaccinated against Covid-19 to continue their businesses.

Shopkeepers who have not yet had Covid-19 jabs will be barred from conducting their businesses, said Arakan State military council spokesman and state advocate general U Hla Thein. The new requirement is because unvaccinated vendors who sell things in public places are at higher risk of transmitting the virus, he added.

“Some shopkeepers did not get jabs because they were afraid. But we have made it mandatory for shopkeepers to have jabs if they are to continue to do their business. It is because we want to make sure no one is left out of the vaccination programme,” said U Hla Thein.

Municipal authorities and civil society organisations are jointly working in respective townships to check if shopkeepers are vaccinated, and making lists of unvaccinated people.

To make coronavirus prevention efforts more effective in Mrauk-U, local authorities plan to check people’s Covid-19 vaccination certificates soon.

Local authorities also plan to make Covid-19 vaccination certificates compulsory for people to enter hospitals. And shopkeepers will also be required to show their vaccination certificates, said an official from the Mrauk-U District Health Department.

“We will check whether they have Covid-19 vaccination certificates within the next few days. We are doing this mainly to control Covid-19,” he said.

In Minbya, authorities are already checking if shopkeepers at markets have received Covid-19 jabs. The township General Administration Department plans to administer jabs to all those unvaccinated by the end of April, said township administrator U Myo Soe Moe.

“We have been urging the unvaccinated people to get jabs. I don’t know yet how many remain unvaccinated in Minbya,” he said.

Some 70% of the population in Arakan State has received the Covid-19 vaccine, said U Hla Thein.