Buy the Sputnik V, Mr PM, it is safe

THE EDITOR: The Government's handling of the covid19 pandemic last year was very commendable. While so-called developed countries were struggling to contain the virus, TT had it under control.

However, due mainly to the foolish, irresponsible and careless behaviour of our citizens, the country has been hit with a new infection wave that may prove to be very costly in terms of lives lost.

It is precisely because of the magnitude and severity of this new wave that the Government must act with alacrity and use whatever tools at its disposal to combat this deadly infectious disease.

We have constantly been hearing from Government officials, including the Ministry of Health, that they are being guided by the "science" and the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines. What we're not being told though is that there is another mega element that has been guiding the WHO and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) – geopolitics.

These organisations have consistently spouted the approval for emergency use of western manufactured vaccines such as the AstraZeneca, J&J and Pfizer/Moderna.

The severe side effects of these vaccines are well documented, yet we in TT keep scrambling to buy or beg for more supplies of the AstraZeneca, despite a large number of European countries and the US suspending or not using this vaccine in their own countries, but are "willing to donate" their unused supplies to countries like ours. And no one in our Government has even questioned why.

I believe the Prime Minister really cares about the people of this country, therefore I publicly ask him: why has there been no attempt to acquire the Russian Sputnik V vaccine?

The internationally respected English medical journal The Lancet published the data from the Gamaleya Institute, which developed the vaccine, showing it was 91.6 per cent effective (February). Also, Prof Florian Thalhammer, chairman of the Austrian Society of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine and who is a leading infectious disease specialist at the Medical University of Vienna, declared that Sputnik V is as simple, reliable and effective as the Kalashnikov assault rifle (February).

Sputnik V is currently being used in over 60 counties including some of our neighbours such as Guyana, Venezuela and St Vincent and The Grenadines. In fact, the people of St Vincent refused to be vaccinated with anything but Sputnik V, which was taken by Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and the top medical personnel in his country. That is why he has volunteered to donate the current doses of AstraZeneca to other countries. Dr Rowley should be aware of this, having had conversations with Gonzales.

Plus, these vaccines are cheaper, can be stored in normal refrigeration, there is no problem for supply and, most importantly, there has been not one single report of any severe side effects. We all know that had this vaccine been found to be ineffective or dangerous that information would have been splashed all over the western media.

Mr Prime Minister, you have a crisis on your hands and you have the tools to deal with it. Forget the geopolitics. The lives of our people are in your hands. Purchase the Sputnik V vaccines.

JAYSON PENN

Couva