PRIME Minister Dr Keith Rowley says that Trinidad and Tobago cannot expect that the Delta variant of Covid-19 will not reach the population.
He said on Thursday at the post-cabinet meeting in Tobago that it was possible that both Trinidad and Tobago could be exposed to the Delta variant since locals were mixing with the international population.
Dr Rowley said, “We will be fooling ourselves to believe that we will get through the rest of the pandemic without that virus getting a chance to come among us.”
The Prime Minister also noted that the best defence against the Delta variant was to get vaccinated as he claimed that scientific data showed that vaccinated individuals stood a better chance at fighting Covid-19 and its variants.
“By and large the governments of the world are reporting that their vaccinated populations are doing much better than their unvaccinated populations and I don’t think one needs a bigger invitation than that,” Dr Rowley said.
However, he noted that while vaccinations were mandatory in the past for the nation’s children, there were currently disputes by alleged Facebook experts as to getting persons vaccinated.
He said, “What we haven’t been living with is Facebook and other kinds of things where everybody now has the right to be an expert on a matter of life and death. You would be alarmed at the reasons people give for not wanting to get vaccinated… anything you think of could be a reason.”
Dr Rowley said churches will reopen as well as beaches when the Covid-19 numbers become more manageable and the risk low.