Kamla: No apology for 'fake vaccine' claims

OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar rejected a call from Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh to retract a statement she made about fake covid19 vaccines allegedly being involved in the deaths of 5,000 people during the pandemic.

She also said people who are experiencing health problems as a result of taking covid19 vaccines may have grounds for legal action if being vaccinated resulted in their losing their jobs.

She made these statements at a UNC public meeting in Chaguanas on September 16

Persad-Bissessar said, "So bold and crass to call on me to apologise. Shame on him."

Persad-Bissessar asked how many people are suffering from the side effects of vaccines forced on them because they had to choose between the vaccine or losing their jobs.

She suggested these people "may now have grounds for legal action."

Persad-Bissessar asked, "What is the science that led to 5,000 deaths?"

She quoted excerpts from different articles which claimed some people who took the AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Johnson& Johnson covid19 vaccines in other countries during the pandemic subsequently experienced medical problems such as miscarriages.

Persad-Bissessar claimed instead of informing the public about the risks of these "rushed" vaccines, the government, supported by the media and business community, suppressed free speech and attempted to force a vaccine mandate on the population.

"Citizens were told to choose between job and jab. I challenge the covid propaganda team, the minister of death, and the media to dispute these submissions of mine.

"To this day, none of them who pushed mandatory covid19 vaccinations have apologised for their irresponsible roles and ignorance in pushing misinformation and propaganda during the covid pandemic."

Earlier in the meeting, Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal and former Caroni East MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh supported Persad-Bissessar's previous condemnation of Deyalsingh's management of the pandemic

She said at a meeting on September 9: "Thereafter, over 5,000 people of our country died, hundreds of thousands were administered a fake vaccine and Roshan Parasram (the Chief Medial Officer) was shamelessly awarded the Order of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago."

The Health Ministry cited the number of pandemic deaths as 4,000.

In a statement on September 12, Deyalsingh said, "The assertion that a 'fake vaccine' was administered to citizens is an affront to the entire public and private health sector and implies that our doctors and nurses and other publicly spirited individuals who administered these vaccines were complicit in a hoax."

Persad-Bissessar's allegations, he said, may also suggest doctors and nurses breached their sacred oaths.

Deyalsingh also said a Privy Council ruling in the case of Dominic Seuraj and others against the Attorney General in 2021 and a related judgement by High Court Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh showed "all decisions made in the management of covid19 were based on established science."

Deyalsingh added that science was also what guided him in the procurement and use of vaccines.

He demanded Persad-Bissessar make a full retraction of her statements.

Editor’s note: The Health Ministry has said it used covid19 vaccines approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

No vaccine was used until it had undergone rigorous scientific and clinical testing in keeping with the highest vaccine testing standards, as do all other vaccines used in Trinidad and Tobago.

In the frequently asked questions section of its website, the ministry advised, “By getting vaccinated, you are reducing your risk of disease, hospitalisation, severe complications, and even

death, for both you and your loved ones. The trial results for the approved vaccines showed that they were very effective at preventing moderate and severe disease, and in most cases, preventing symptoms all together.”

A compilation of studies by Yale Medicine showed the PfizerBioNTech vaccine and the Moderna vaccines had 95 per cent efficacy for preventing symptomatic covid19. The Astra-Zeneca vaccine had an efficacy of 72 per cent, the Sinopharm vaccine had an efficacy of 72 per cent and the J&J vaccine had an efficacy of 76 per cent.

In 2021, the Pan American Health Organization said the use of vaccines had been politicised in many countries.