Opposition Leader Renews Call for People to Sue State over Covid-19 Vaccine

CHAGUANAS CMC – Opposition Leader Kamla Persad Bissessar has brushed aside a call by Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh for her to retract a statement regarding the coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine and repeated her call for people experiencing poor health and side effects from the vaccine to take legal action.

“How many citizens are now suffering the ill effects of these fake vaccines that were forced on them because they had to choose between the vaccine or losing their jobs? To this day, none of them who pushed mandatory Covid-19 vaccinations have apologised for their irresponsible roles and ignorance in pushing misinformation and propaganda during the COVID pandemic,” Persad Bissessar told a public meeting of United National Congress (UNC) at the party’s headquarters in Chaguanas on Monday night.

“The UNC always said during that time consult your doctor and make a decision that’s best for you. You should not have been forced to take the jab or lose your job,”  she said, adding “any citizen experiencing poor health or side effects of these vaccines, where your employer forced you to take the vaccine you may now have grounds for legal  action in the court house.”

Persad Bissessar, a senior counsel, said her advice to those persons is “to sue them, seek redress, seek redress for any ill that befall you because of the forced vaccine.”

She blamed Delaysingh and the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram for their management of the pandemic, adding that close to 5,000 people died from the virus and that their deaths could have been prevented.

Last week, the health minister issued a statement condemning the Opposition Leader’s claim that ‘fake vaccines’ had been administered to a significant portion of the population.

Deyalsingh had demanded that she retract her statements.

But as she addressed supporters, the Opposition Leader did not retract her earlier statement regarding the Covid-19 pandemic here, bringing what she said was evidence to support her claim.

She spoke of international reports about the efficacy of the vaccines, noting that in August 2021, Trinidad and Tobago received 108,000 Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines, noting that one US-media network had reported that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, had on May 15, 2023, stated the Covid-19 vaccine from Johnson & Johnson was no longer available in the United States and providers were directed to dispose of any they had left over.

She said the CDC limited the Emergency Use Authorisation of the vaccine due to the risk of a rare and dangerous clotting condition called Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) after receiving the vaccine.

The Opposition Leader said that T&T had received a pledge of 908,000 doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine from the United States government, but pointed to a June 2024 article which stated that the US state of Kansas had sued Pfizer, accusing the company of misleading the public about its Covid-19 vaccine by hiding risks while making false claims about its effectiveness.

The UNC, she said, had always contended that many vaccines injected into people’s bodies should have never been brought to market in their current formulation and and none of these vaccines should have been approved in their current formulation.

She said medical regulators worldwide and in Trinidad and Tobago should have red-flagged these side effects, informed the public, and requested that the manufacturer return to the lab and reformulate their offering.

Persad Bissessar was also critical of the local media, the private sector for their support of the government’s position to have citizens take the vaccine in order to preserve their jobs.