UNC position on vaccination

THE EDITOR: I write in response to your editorial of September 20, “Lessons in miseducation.”

The Newsday is perfectly free to align itself with the PNM in our democratic country. Indeed, the Opposition UNC, more than any other force, remains at the forefront of continuously defending our State from being engulfed by PNM dictatorship.

However, the Newsday, as a provider of mass-distributed news, must always be careful to stick to the facts and not let its political affections undermine its reporting or opinions. Instead, Newsday is following the tired PNM routine of blaming the Opposition for Government’s failures, and distorting the truth while doing so.

Unfortunately, the Newsday in its political zeal has chosen to twist facts as though the editorial were issued straight from Balisier House. This is unfortunate for a newspaper upon which citizens depend for truthful information, even truth about opinions opposite those of its editors and owners.

The Newsday should simply state its disapproval of the Leader of Opposition’s opinion with its own arguments and facts. Instead, the Newsday engages in smearing and undermining the Leader of the Opposition. This is reprehensible.

Starting out by attempting to belittle the Opposition Leader’s correction of the public record “squabbling,” Newsday then takes a side swipe at the Leader of Opposition for “eventually” getting vaccinated.

Worse, however, are the Newsday’s deliberate lies about the Opposition’s position on vaccination. The Opposition was the first to lay the issue of mass vaccination on the table, while the Government sat on its hands waiting for the Covax facility and the African Medical Supplies Platform, complaining about “vaccine apartheid,” while our Caricom neighbours had already successfully secured vaccines in January, before we got a single dose.

The Opposition Leader was roundly criticised for aggressively advocating swift vaccine procurement. She even wrote (to) the Prime Minister of India directly for a donation, amidst much criticism which eventually arrived and started the ball rolling, and the Government to finally act.

Indeed, instead of supporting the Leader of the Opposition, the Newsday editors criticised any attempt to secure vaccine donations from India because of their political opposition to the current Indian government. And Newsday now wants to pontificate about politicising the vaccination issue!

The facts remain wholly at odds with Newsday’s PNM-friendly spin. UNC MPs, in fact, are the only ones who are actively promoting vaccination. PNM MPs are invisible or silent on the matter, and never bothered by the Newsday for it. Indeed, given what little we know about the demographics of vaccine hesitancy, it appears that many in PNM constituencies are in dire need of vaccine education.

Notably, as far back as February, a UWI study statistically showed that 62 per cent of the TT population was unwilling to take any covid19 vaccination, and it made a series of recommendations to the Government on what it should do about the matter. This, like so many other covid19 recommendations, was ignored by the Government. Notably, none of those recommendations included forcing children to take the vaccine.

With regard to the vaccination of minors, instead of the bullying, buffing and berating approach of Keith Rowley, the Opposition Leader has called on Government to first have a discussion with civil society and put forward a proposed policy so people can consider it before any moves are made to mandate vaccines for children.

Why is the Government afraid of talking to citizens? Is this not still a democracy? Is the Prime Minister afraid of angry citizens? Repression, authoritarianism, and taking away civil and human rights is not the correct answer. But it appears to be the only answer that Rowley and the PNM have. And, as usual, it appears fully supported by the Newsday.

It must be noted that nowhere in the world is covid19 vaccination mandatory for children. The Newsday must surely know that the equation of covid19 vaccines with vaccines for other diseases is incorrect.

An inclusive, democratic approach for mass vaccination needs to be adopted, as the UNC has consistently advocated.

The UNC advises the Newsday to properly report on opposing positions, instead of trying to smear the messenger, PNM-style. This reprehensible tactic is unbecoming of what is supposed to be a national newspaper.

DR KIRK MEIGHOO

PRO, UNC

Editor's note:
While we are publishing this letter in order to fulfil part of our function of providing a wide range of views on issues of public interest, including political issues, we must also point out some glaring errors in Dr Meighoo's hyperbolic and unfounded assumptions.

As our many regular readers can attest, this newspaper offers opinions on political positions and actions on the merits of each, not on the basis of which party they emanate from. It does not publish deliberate lies, except perhaps unknowingly in certain letters or in direct quotations from some commentators who feature in news stories.