Landlady insists tenants must be vaccinated

Asenior citizen who is afraid of catching COVID-19 says any applicant looking to lease a home she has advertised for rent, must be fully vaccinated.

“I don’t want anybody in my house who is not vaccinated, that is my choice. I am concerned about it because people just dropping dead, you know that? People who are not vaccinated just dropping dead every minute. That is why I want someone vaccinated,” she shared.

The home, located in upper St Andrew area, goes for $45,000 a month. The tenant would only share kitchen facilities. Prior to the beginning of the third wave of the virus in July, the Ministry of Health and Wellness’ COVID-19 clinical management reports indicated the daily positivity rate was at 6.5 per cent. On August 29, the country recorded an all-time high of 54 per cent, with 739 confirmed cases and six deaths.

The senior hinted that she was aware of other landlords also asking that prospective tenants be vaccinated, but declined to say if it will become the new norm.

“You can’t go and live on the university [University of the West Indies, Mona campus] if you not vaccinated. You can’t work with Digicel unless you are vaccinated. You have to do a test every two weeks. A lot of companies are bringing that [vaccination] now,” she added.

The news team contacted the Rent Assessment Board of Jamaica about the issue, and the representative told THE WEEKEND

STAR that the board has no say whether a landlord can have a preference for vaccinated tenants.

“We don’t have anything to do with that. We don’t have the authority to answer that,” she stressed, referring questions to Health Minister Dr Christopher Tufton or Prime Minister Andrew Holness.

On Wednesday, the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica, along with the Jamaica Chamber of Commerce outlined in a letter that “the time is now for private sector entities to establish policies that require employees to get vaccinated.” About 10 per cent of the nation’s population has been fully vaccinated.