Inmates, get the jab

To: The inmates of our nation’s prisons

DEAR INMATES,

I am writing this letter today urging you to get your covid19 vaccinations. It has been very disappointing to hear of the low response rate in prisons for the vaccines.

Please know how important it is for you to be vaccinated. In my mind, you are the most vulnerable members of our society. You are locked in prison in overcrowded cells. With up to seven people in a cell, it is difficult for you to follow covid19 protocols. Let’s not pretend physical distancing is possible.

Many of you have no running water in your cells to bathe and wash your hands frequently. Through the kind donations of NGOs like SEWA, Gary Aboud and many other caring individuals, we have provided masks, bleach, soap, laundry detergent and hand sanitiser for prisons, but I know you don’t always have access to water or hand sanitiser.

Wearing masks is important, but I can imagine how difficult it is to wear them in those hot cells that lack ventilation. Do you sleep with your masks on?

I am fully vaccinated because I know these vaccines help save lives. They do not prevent us from getting covid19, but in most cases they prevent us from getting the virus severe enough to require hospitalisation. Vaccination prevents deaths.

There are people who say covid19 vaccines are experimental drugs. These vaccines have been sanctioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency use because we are in an emergency situation. Covid19 vaccines have been used for many months in many countries before they arrived in TT, and they have proved effective.

Yes, a few people have had side effects, but those people are a drop in the bucket compared to the number of people who have died from covid19. It is an awful, painful, lonely and preventable death if only people would become vaccinated.

I have heard all the arguments against being vaccinated. Some people say the world came up with a vaccine too quickly. Tell that to the people whose lives have been saved because of these vaccines.

Millions of people have been vaccinated and the number of severe cases among the vaccinated plummeted while the number skyrocketed among the unvaccinated.

A covid19 vaccine came much sooner than I thought it would, but that is because we have advanced technology capable of inventing vaccines much faster than we did in the past.

If everyone becomes vaccinated, we make it difficult for covid19 to mutate and develop into new variants like the delta variant terrorising the world right now. Viruses work hard to survive so variants become more virulent.

I have spent the last 12 years of my life trying to help you through the Wishing for Wings Foundation because I believe in you. I believe in rehabilitation. I believe you will make positive contributions to society when you get out of prison.

We in the “free world,” as you refer to this place outside of prison, have all felt the mental strain of lockdowns, but none of us can begin to imagine how that feels in prison with no way to communicate with family; no way to walk out of your cell to get a breath of fresh air.

I have been fighting with you and for you every step of the way for over a decade because I believe that all accused are innocent until proven guilty. Your lives matter.

If you believe those who try to scare you about adverse side effects from the vaccines, know that all the medications you take have side effects and few people suffer from those side effects. You make a decision to use medication in spite of the remote possibility of side effects every day of your life. You have had other vaccinations in your lives, and you did not hesitate to take them.

These days the Facebook memories that flood my life are of you participating in my certified barbering classes; you taking my PVC furniture-making classes; you participating in my decorative tiling classes; you participating in my inter-station debates and my English classes. In my mind, I see you going to the libraries I have started or supported. We cannot get back to those activities until you are vaccinated.

Please, I am begging for your health; I am begging for your lives. I am begging so that you can get out of lockdown, get back to court and work towards your lives in the free world. Please, get vaccinated.