By Sue-Ann Wayow
PRESIDENT Paula-Mae Weekes making a call to citizens of Trinidad and Tobago to get vaccinated not only for Covid-19 but against other diseases.
Weekes in a statement on Wednesday in commemoration of World Immunisation Week said that this year’s theme Long Life for All underscores the role of vaccines in enabling people to overcome preventable diseases and lead longer and healthier lives.
She said, “While we have formerly been largely compliant with vaccination programmes, Trinidad and Tobago still has some ways to go in respect of the Covid-19 vaccination, as only 50.8% of our population is fully vaccinated as of April 24, 2022.
“We have witnessed the misery, loss and destruction caused by Covid-19 as well as experienced the relief and return to semi-normalcy brought about by vaccines. Let us heed the advice of our health authorities and take the necessary steps to reduce the risk of serious illness and death. As the saying goes, ‘an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’ Get vaccinated today!”
Weekes stated that from the invention of the smallpox vaccine in 1796 to the more recent Covid-19 jab, vaccines have been saving lives for centuries preventing millions of deaths annually.
“Vaccination drives during the 20th and 21st centuries have dramatically reduced and controlled infectious disease outbreaks, eradicated the once fearsome and deadly smallpox, driven polio to the brink of extinction and helped ensure a brighter, healthier future for all,” she said.
These essential immunisation programmes were dealt a severe blow by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 she stated as for the first time in a decade, vaccination coverage declined.
