WHILE our vaccination efforts should be in full force and heading in the right direction, it looks like we really did not have enough vaccines for the elderly and most vulnerable in our society.
About a little less than ten percent of our population has so far received only one dose of vaccines against Covid-19 and we have a long way still to go to herd immunity.
However, after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley apologised for his Government’s handling of the chaos that stemmed during the three-day attempted mass vaccination distribution, another vaccine farce seems to be in the making.
So many mistakes have been made and so many lives have been lost yet we cannot understand how anyone can be so incompetent in their duties to the nation and be allowed to continue in their post.
With the Government first priority being the safety of our citizens, the prime minister took blame for his minister of health latest bungle in an effort to stop the calls from various quarters for his head. He further admitted that his Government really did not have enough vaccines to rollout a mass vaccination effort and that although his team is trying to acquire more vaccines, he was not sure when exactly more (in large quantities) were coming.
In the backdrop of elderly citizens being turned away in droves from Health Centres due to improper planning and dishonesty on the part of the Rowley-led Government, his government are caught with another issue that has everyone wondering what is really going on here.
First seen by documentation circulating on social media. It appeared that Trinidad and Tobago received vaccines from the United States through the US State Department consisting of 80 vials of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines which is 400 doses, but never reported to the public.
Every week we get media briefings from Government on their efforts in the Covid-19 fight and updates on the number of vaccines being acquired even from our CARICOM neighbours, yet this time this particular acquisition was conveniently not made public.
When this information was leaked, the Ministry of National Security hurriedly issued a statement that these vaccines are to be used for Ministry of National Security personnel without naming who exactly were these individuals.
Many questions arise from this new development, like why are these specific personnel not receiving the same vaccines as the rest of the population?
Is it that these special people are skeptical to take the Sinopharm or Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines? If so, why are all citizens being told to take the vaccines that the Government acquired at great difficulty on their behalf, the Chinese-made vaccines or the Indian-made vaccines, when high level individuals will be afforded the opportunity to get these Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines? Who exactly is going to get these Pfizer vaccines?
How can we trust a Government who seems to be disingenuous to its population, hides information and only comes clean when they get caught with possibly hiding the true story behind these vaccines, literally caught with their pants down.
It’s just not right, we the average citizens have to take whatever the Government says we must take, and then they go behind our backs and acquire Pfizer vaccines for an undisclosed group of people.
How can we trust anything the Rowley-led Government is feeding us now after the last week of the mishandling of the distribution of Sinopharm vaccines to our most valuable people, our elderly citizens and citizens with comorbidities?
Further, how do these vaccines fit into the mass rollout of vaccines to the general public? Why does it seem here that the average citizen comes last and what the current Government is concerned about is receiving special consideration and what is considered superior vaccines for themselves, their families and financiers.
One wonders if it’s one vaccine for the elite and another for the peasants.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessary those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.
One Vaccine for the Elite, Another for Peasants
WHILE our vaccination efforts should be in full force and heading in the right direction, it looks like we really did not have enough vaccines for the elderly and most vulnerable in our society.
About a little less than ten percent of our population has so far received only one dose of vaccines against Covid-19 and we have a long way still to go to herd immunity.
However, after Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley apologised for his Government’s handling of the chaos that stemmed during the three-day attempted mass vaccination distribution, another vaccine farce seems to be in the making.
So many mistakes have been made and so many lives have been lost yet we cannot understand how anyone can be so incompetent in their duties to the nation and be allowed to continue in their post.
With the Government first priority being the safety of our citizens, the prime minister took blame for his minister of health latest bungle in an effort to stop the calls from various quarters for his head. He further admitted that his Government really did not have enough vaccines to rollout a mass vaccination effort and that although his team is trying to acquire more vaccines, he was not sure when exactly more (in large quantities) were coming.
In the backdrop of elderly citizens being turned away in droves from Health Centres due to improper planning and dishonesty on the part of the Rowley-led Government, his government are caught with another issue that has everyone wondering what is really going on here.
First seen by documentation circulating on social media. It appeared that Trinidad and Tobago received vaccines from the United States through the US State Department consisting of 80 vials of Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines which is 400 doses, but never reported to the public.
Every week we get media briefings from Government on their efforts in the Covid-19 fight and updates on the number of vaccines being acquired even from our CARICOM neighbours, yet this time this particular acquisition was conveniently not made public.
When this information was leaked, the Ministry of National Security hurriedly issued a statement that these vaccines are to be used for Ministry of National Security personnel without naming who exactly were these individuals.
Many questions arise from this new development, like why are these specific personnel not receiving the same vaccines as the rest of the population?
Is it that these special people are skeptical to take the Sinopharm or Oxford AstraZeneca vaccines? If so, why are all citizens being told to take the vaccines that the Government acquired at great difficulty on their behalf, the Chinese-made vaccines or the Indian-made vaccines, when high level individuals will be afforded the opportunity to get these Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines? Who exactly is going to get these Pfizer vaccines?
How can we trust a Government who seems to be disingenuous to its population, hides information and only comes clean when they get caught with possibly hiding the true story behind these vaccines, literally caught with their pants down.
It’s just not right, we the average citizens have to take whatever the Government says we must take, and then they go behind our backs and acquire Pfizer vaccines for an undisclosed group of people.
How can we trust anything the Rowley-led Government is feeding us now after the last week of the mishandling of the distribution of Sinopharm vaccines to our most valuable people, our elderly citizens and citizens with comorbidities?
Further, how do these vaccines fit into the mass rollout of vaccines to the general public? Why does it seem here that the average citizen comes last and what the current Government is concerned about is receiving special consideration and what is considered superior vaccines for themselves, their families and financiers.
One wonders if it’s one vaccine for the elite and another for the peasants.
Neil Gosine is an insurance executive, the North East Regional Coordinator of the United National Congress and a former chairman of NP. The comments and opinions expressed by him in this column are not necessary those of AZPNews.com, a division of Complete Image Limited.