Quayle: We will have “some sort of border control in place until a vaccine is found”

Earlier on Twitter, I paraphrased the Chief Minister, and I said:

The Chief Minister has just said on @ManxRadio that we will have
some sort of border controls in IOM until a vaccine has been found. His Director of Public Health estimates this might not be until November 2021.

Buckle up team, this is a long slog ahead.

— Michael Josem (@MichaelJosem) June 3, 2020

After sharing this, a senior Government official falsely accused me of “scaremongering”.

I’ve now tracked down the exact quote from the Chief Minister on Manx Radio earlier today:

But at this moment in time, there are no plans [to open our borders]. And I think at some stage, John, once the data reduces of the number of cases in the UK, we will be able to look at loosening the regulations on the borders, but I think there will always be some sort of border control in place until a vaccine is found and whilst that’s announced from time to time that it’s imminent, it doesn’t seem to be happening soon.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle on the Manx Radio Mannin Line, 3 June 2020

Skip to about the 24 minute mark here.