Children not allowed to attend cricket

The restraint to unvaccinated persons attending the access the upcoming West Indies home series tour against Pakistan starting at the Guyana National Stadium this week, means no children will be able to attend the matches.

“It is a health issue and necessarily a policy issue,” President of the Guyana Cricket Board Bissoondyal Singh told the Big Smith News Watch in an invited comment on Wednesday.

He added that the authorities are strict with the requirement for everyone at the venue to be fully vaccinated in order to be allowed there. “Everyone from the security forces to the scorers who are entering the Stadium has to be double vaccinated,” he noted.

The government of Guyana through the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport on Sunday announced that the second, third, fourth and fifth T20 internationals of the West Indies versus Pakistan series would see forty percent stadium capacity filled by fully vaccinated fans.

However, it did not expound on the presence of children at the venue for whom there are no approved vaccines.

One member of the public, who requested anonymity, contacted this entity after he went to purchase two tickets on Wednesday for himself and his six-year-old son. He was told by ticketing officials that he cannot purchase for said child.

“I went this morning to the Guyana Cricket Board head office to purchase some tickets for the match on Sunday and I asked for a ticket for my six-year-old son and the lady [at the ticket booth] told me he [my son] cannot enter the stadium. So I said ‘Why?’ She said ‘because he isn’t fully vaccinated,” he recounted.

According to the customer, he quizzed the ticketing agent further to probe where the genesis of the decision came from.

The patron was upset as he noted that there are no approved vaccines for children.

The ticket agent then informed the customer that “the government say only sell [tickets to] people that are 18 and up that are vaccinated that can enter the stadium, anybody under 18 that’s not vaccinated don’t sell them no tickets.”

The unsatisfied customer added that prior to attempting to secure the tickets, he made all arrangements to follow up a promise to his son to take him to Sunday’s game.

To date, only the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine is available for children ages 12 and above.

According to a state media article published on July 21, the government is now trying to secure said vaccine for children which is expected to arrive in August.