Vaccine cards for V’zuelan children

GREVIC ALVARADO

Venezuelan children affected by the lack of TT vaccination cards to go to Catholic schools have begun to receive help from health centres.

Parents informed Newsday that the health centres in Cunupia and Freeport, and the district hospital in Chaguanas, are transcribing the information on their children’s Venezuelan vaccination cards to TT cards. Children who were not immunized in Venezuela were also vaccinated.

This followed a report in last week’s Sunday Newsday on the problem that Venezuelan children were not allowed to attend classes after normal school hours at Catholic schools because they did not have TT vaccination cards. Ronel Villegas said his two daughters attending a Catholic school in Chaguanas were able to resume classes after he got TT vaccination cards for them from the Cunupia Health Centre.

“After the publication of the news in this newspaper (Sunday Newsday) I went to the Cunupia Health Centre in Jerningham Junction and they treated me very well, thank God, and the people who saw my daughter I already have the card and they returned to school,” said Villegas.

His daughters had their Venezuelan vaccination cards but one of them had not received a vaccine in their home country. “It was really fast, they reviewed the card we brought from Venezuela, transcribed it in the Trinidadian and gave my little daughter the vaccine that was pending. We no longer have problems in this regard.”

A mother who took her son to the Chaguanas hospital said they got help there. “I brought my son to the Chaguanas hospital last Friday and they gave us an appointment for Saturday. They only transcribed the information that our Venezuelan card has to the TT format because my son has all the vaccines,” said Carmen Maldonado.

She said the first days to register children for classes were difficult. “When they told us that our children needed that document, we worried. In some health centres there were appointments for the end of November, but changed it, given the urgency we have, the paper is speeding up,” she said.

Parents said that the teachers have also been working with them so that their children can attend classes soon. The children are being registered under Space of Equity an accredited education programme for asylum seekers, refugees and other eligible children who need support.

This intervention is a joint effort offered by the United Nations Agency for Refugees, UNICEF, Living Water Community and TTVSOLNET (TTV Solidarity Network). The Prime Minister in August had asked the Catholic Church to do what it can to help Venezuelan children to have an education even if they are not allowed to attend local schools full time.