Abdullah: Government focused on 'vaccination, not education'

Activist Umar Abdullah, leader of the First Wave Movement, has said the government more focused on vaccinating students than focusing on their education.

Abdullah, an anti-covid19 vaccination campaigner, was at the Russell Latapy Secondary School in Morvant on Tuesday which the Ministry of Health was visiting as part of its vaccination drive at schools this week.

On Friday, the ministry said it would be collaborating with the Ministry of Education to bring its vaccination efforts to schools. Phase one of the project, it said, will run from February 21-25, and will target 35 schools across the country.

It said students 12-17 must have written permission from a parent/guardian who must also be present at the time of vaccination.

“Was this the purpose of the government reopening schools? Was it for this?” said Abdullah as he gestured toward the school’s entrance. “To target schools to vaccinate students?

"Now the government does not have to wait for parents (and) students to come to a vaccination site. They have them at school.

“Why is an institution that is supposed to be for education being used for this purpose? The focus is not on the education of students, it is to get them vaccinated.”

Abdullah asked if footballer and national hero Russell Latapy, after whom the school is named, would approve of the ministry using the school as a vaccination site. “knowing the school is being used to inoculate children who may have adverse injury and possibly die as a result of these injections. What would he say if he knew this educational institution is being used as a health centre?”

According to the Ministry of Health, no person in Trinidad and Tobago has died from the covid19 vaccine.

Abdullah said he would be visiting another school tomorrow.

“We will continue to highlight the issue and ask the nation to question the government.”

He said parents and students are not being informed of the side effects of the covid19 vaccines.

Abdullah said the school’s security told him there were hardly any parents on the premises participating in the drive. He said since the ministry’s announcement on Friday, hundreds of parents have contacted him to complain.

During Newsday’s visit, three police cars with armed officers were seen patrolling the school.

On January 16, Abdullah led hundreds around the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, to protest the government’s handling of the covid19 pandemic, including the Prime Minister’s vaccination policy for government workers. After several attempts to disperse the large crowd, police began detaining protesters and threw several tear-gas canisters to control the crowd, which had become hostile to the police presence. The Guard and Emergency Branch (GEB), otherwise known as the Riot Squad, were called in.

On Tuesday, he said the government was using a system of fear to control the public.

“The population needs to understand the government has nothing. If they had something they would have made good on their promise on (February) 17.”

The Prime Minister said public-sector workers would have until February 17 to ensure they are vaccinated against covid19, and those who choose not to be vaccinated for non-medical reasons will be furloughed.

In 2018, footage of Abdullah in an interview with National Geographic aired during a travel series called Chain of Command, which highlighted civil unrest and fundamentalism around the world. In it, Abdullah distributed propaganda and encouraged young Muslims to leave TT and fight for the Islamic extremist group ISIS.

Interviewed in January 2018 by Newsday, however, he denounced his involvement with the group, and said he has “come a long way from that kind of understanding.”

At St James Secondary, another of the vaccination sites, one parent, who requested anonymity, told Newsday he was dissatisfied with the communication between the ministry, the schools, and parents.

He brought his son, who attends Woodbrook Secondary, to the school to be vaccinated.

“The principal (of Woodbrook Secondary) received instructions from the ministry on Friday afternoon. He promlty sent a circular to parents. The circular made it very clear that the ministry team will come to Woodbrook on Wednesday.”

He said because of the rotation system implemented at schools to accommodate physical distancing of students in the school environment, his son would not be in school on Wednesday.

“You know the team showed up there this morning when I had already called the principal to tell him I am coming to pick up the child to bring him here?”

He said the two ministry officials in the room had told him his son did not qualify for the vaccine.

He said he was the only parent there with a student to be vaccinated.