The government has eased its vaccination requirements after a family had to scrap their holiday because a quota meant their 18-month-old baby needed to be vaccinated.
The Timoteo family were booked on a cruise on Carnival Splendor with two parents and two children fully vaccinated, but a third 18-month-old child was unvaccinated. Only days before they were due to set sail, they were told their booking was cancelled because they had an unvaccinated person in their group – namely baby Lucy. The NSW Government rules state at least 95 per cent of all passengers have to be vaccinated, and the Timoteo’s 18-month-old appears to have tipped the ship over the edge.Since Nine’s A Current Affair broke its story, the cruise community has been up in arms.
Now Carnival has eased vaccination requirements to help passengers.
Until now, the government’s policy forced cruise lines to include children in its 5% vaccination threshold – even when legally they couldn’t be vaccinated.A spokesman said: “Carnival, having become aware of the issue because we are close to our guests, are working hard and successfully to ease the government rules in respect of unvaccinated children under the age of 12.”
What makes the rules particularly ludicrous is that 18-month-olds are too young to be vaccinated.
Karina Timoteo said: “I don’t choose for my daughter not to be vaccinated – she cannot be vaccinated in NSW.”
Another family also had a Carnival cruise cancelled due to having unvaccinated children. “Christine” told A Current Affair: “We had two children under 12, which aren’t mandated to be vaccinated. All of the adults were vaccinated.”
Carnival CEO Marguerite Fitzgerald previously clarified the Carnival Vaccination Requirements with A Current Affair: “95% per cent of guests must be vaccinated. We’re seeing that it’s working, the protocols are working, and we are not having outbreaks on the ships.”
Ms Fitzgerald later clarified that saying during certain periods such as school holidays, they would quickly reach their five per cent cap, which means children under 12 could become ineligible to sail.
Carnival has now changed the vaccination requirements, removing the 5% threshold rule that was preventing some families from sailing.
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It’s totally discrimination when you segregate free choice not to comply with mandates. Meaning of mandate is an agreement between two people. Which by tge way this deplorable government has not acquired by any of the people whom they work for. I for one have certainly not consented to this mandate of vaccinations.
Finally! This is the first article I’ve read that has correctly indicated that this is a government mandated rule, not the cruise line’s! A Current Affair very conveniently left that part out of their story, of course though they would never let the truth get in the way of a good story..
Thank you for keeping your future cruise passengers updated with positive progress being made to ensure unnecessary & discriminatory exclusions are being eased for travelers on your ships.
Our family are waiting to book a cruise of 20-25 passengers- many of whom are healthy citizens who have chosen not to have an experimental medical procedure.
We will be booking as soon as we know the doors are open to all without discrimination.
Thank you.