By Dr. Kirk Meighoo
OPPOSITION LEADER: NO TO FORCED MANDATORY VACCINATIONS AND VACCINE DISCRIMINATION; PEOPLE SHOULD NOT BE FORCED TO CHOOSE BETWEEN FEEDING THEIR FAMILY AND TAKING A VACCINE.
My position on forced mandatory vaccination and vaccine discrimination has been crystal clear since the beginning of this crisis. The Opposition encourages all persons to consult their doctor and consider getting vaccinated. Vaccination is one of many important tools in the fight against Covid-19. However, the Opposition does not support FORCED MANDATORY Vaccination.
Rowley’s dictatorial new measure to force persons to choose between being vaccinated and earning a livelihood is not the way to go. Rowley has now resorted to blackmailing citizens into forced vaccinations to distract from the avoidable 2500 plus covid deaths instead of changing his incompetent and failed propaganda team of Deyalsingh, Parasram and Abdool Richards.
Rowley and his propaganda team lacked innovation, political will, intellectual ability and transparency to fight this battle. They abandoned this fight from the very start by leaving the failing team in place after 200 deaths.
When I first called for changes we had 200 deaths, today we are now over 2500 deaths. The propaganda team must go now. Senior experienced and credible doctors must instead be included on this team who can bring this pandemic under control.
It is clear to everyone that the Government’s parallel health care system was a charade. What actually happened was the gutting of pre-existing sections of the national health care infrastructure, programmes and clinics and renaming them the parallel healthcare system. It was one big con job by Rowley and his propaganda team, in local parlance, they dug a hole to fill a hole.
Policies must be judged by their outcomes, not their intentions. There is no evidence to suggest forcing a population already reeling from state overreach will encourage vaccination or engender trust in the Government’s policies. Indeed it may very well have the opposite effect.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, SC, MP
Leader of the Opposition