UNC slams government's 'wait-and-see' approach to covid19

The Opposition is calling on the Government to account for a comprehensive plan for fighting the covid19 pandemic, especially in the light of the recent extension of the current state of emergency (SoE).

Opposition MP for Fyzabad Dr Lackram Bodoe said it cannot be "lockdown after lockdown." Bodoe and opposition senator Damian Lyder headed the conference held at the Office of the Leader of the Opposition, Charles Street, Port of Spain on Sunday.

Following the Prime Minister’s announcement that fully vaccinated students in forms four, five and six will have the option to return to face-to-face classes from October 1, Bodoe said TT should not have been put in a position where those kinds of choices had to be made. Dr Rowley made the announcement at a press conference on Saturday.

Bodoe said he was disappointed by the fact that TT received over 300,000 Pfizer vaccines which were allocated to the student population.

“We’ve had the time in the month of August and yet we are in a situation where just over 20,000 students have been vaccinated amounting to just 25 per cent of the school population.

“Therefore, really and truly, we should not have been put in a position where we have had to make those sort of choices. It is entirely up to the Government to decide how they will treat with the matter. Of course, we are all for the safety and whatever works best for the safety of the students and the parents.”

He said it was important that TT try to get its students back to face-to-face learning as quickly as possible.

Bodoe said it was now 18 months into fighting the pandemic and many countries across the globe accepted that they had to live with the pandemic and so rolled out certain measures.

“Our question this morning is this: what is the Government’s plan to allow us to survive knowing that the virus will be with us for some time to come?”

Bodoe said the United National Congress (UNC) was calling on the Government to get some timelines for the population.

“The population is beginning to feel hopeless especially when the only time they get some form of clarity and direction is at weekly press conferences.”

The Opposition wanted to know what TT could expect in the next few months, he added.

He said at what level of cases the Government would allow further reopening of economic and recreational activities and at what level of cases would the Government decrease the curfew hours and end the SoE.

“Or is it going to be the same wait-and-see game with no clearly defined action plans. With decisions being announced somewhat arbitrarily in press conferences.”

Addressing the issue of vaccine hesitancy, Bodoe said because TT has a highly intelligent population and unless the populace was given an idea as to Government’s comprehensive plan to fight the pandemic there will continue to be a high degree of mistrust and a high level of vaccine hesitancy.

He added that the population would not take the Government seriously which would essentially mean TT was not going anywhere, any time soon.

“While this approach would have been acceptable in the early days of the pandemic when data was limited and vaccines were not available, we are now in a position where surely the Government can share some comprehensive plan as to how our beloved country is expected to move forward.”

He said he was not saying TT should let its guard down or facilitate reckless or irresponsible behaviour but many of TT’s non-covid19 patients continued to suffer while waiting for treatment at the hospitals.

“While we are in the fortunate position of having separate facilities to treat covid19 patients, the Minister of Health fails to tell us that staff from the regular healthcare system, especially internal medicine doctors and specialist nurses, are deployed to the parallel healthcare system, leaving the regular healthcare system in need and with less resources to treat non-covid19 patients.”

He said the “myth” of the parallel healthcare system will be more closely examined in the upcoming budget debate when it examines the Government’s expenditure on the health sector.

Bodoe said the Government did not prepare for vaccine hesitancy despite a survey being out about the impending vaccine hesitancy by the University of the West Indies.

He added that the Government allowed fake news, false information and pseudo-scientists to lead the narrative and create doubt in the minds of many of TT’s citizens hence the high level of vaccine hesitancy.

He asked where was the Ministry of Communications in all of this and what was the ministry’s role in the pandemic to promote vaccination and the debunk the false information.

Bodoe said while vaccine hesitancy is a global problem, each country had its own cultural issues, he said.

He added although the Government had some measure of ads on the television and other media , he felt it should have reached out on a more local level to leaders in communities such as religious leaders, principals and sporting personalities.

When asked if the ministry’s current campaign does not fall in line with that, Bodoe said that the current campaign has it role but he said the one-to-one encounter with citizens can help.