Social activist wants covid19 data from Health Ministry

SOCIAL activist Ravi Balgobin-Maharaj wants to know the age, ethnicity, religious status, sex, health status, vaccination status of each covid19 patient since March 2020, and the county in which they live.

He made the request in a freedom of information application, saying it was important to analyse the trends and data relating to the coronavirus in Trinidad and Tobago.

In his application, sent to the Minister of Health, Balgobin-Maharaj also asked for documentation on the month-by-month overview of covid19 statistics from March 2020 to the present, detailing the vaccines administered in the same groupings.

In addition to age, ethnicity, religious beliefs, sex, heath status, geography and vaccination status, he also wants to know their occupation.

The freedom of information request also asked for a list of personnel of any committee which analysed covid19 biostatistics; the number of vaccines successfully administered to date; a copy of any advice given to the ministry for educating at-risk demographic groups; a copy of any policy used to obtain biodata of covid19 victims; and copies of any reports on the amount of money spent on the pandemic and what it was spent on.

Balgobin-Maharaj is represented by a team of attorneys from Freedom House Chambers and in the request to the minister, attorney Cheyenne Lugo wrote, “Through the dissemination of this type of data, trends are easily identifiable and become common knowledge to the populous. Access to information in turn affects their decision making. The merits of making information more accessible undoubtedly contributed to the steady increase in persons deciding to get vaccinated.”

Lugo said the US, through the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) has been compiling such data and has targeted specific at-risk demographics.

“Similar systems are necessary in Trinidad and Tobago for our own communities. Our client notes that you, the Minister of Health expressed concern at the Ministry’s media briefing that the majority of people who have so far refused to become vaccinated are of the Christian faith.

“However, no data was published on the subject matter to detail the size of the sample surveyed, the ratios in other prevalent religions such as Islam, Baptists and Hinduism. This was in fact the subject of public scrutiny, yet nothing has been done to remedy the dearth of data,” the attorney said.

She added that Balgobin-Maharaj agreed it was important to look at the science, trust the experts and rely on data to guide the country through the pandemic. However, she said it was only with transparent and trustworthy information can “we begin to envision an end to this public health crisis.”

Lugo said in the event the ministry deem the information exempt from being disclosed, she reminded that section 35 of the Freedom of Information Act allows for access to exempt documents if it was justified in the public interest.

She also said if a favourable decision was not forthcoming, her client will file a judicial review claim for the information.