RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

Over 18,000 stu­dents out of a pop­u­la­tion of 90,000 have been vac­ci­nat­ed thus far, says Ed­u­ca­tion Min­is­ter Dr Nyan Gads­by-Dol­ly.

But this fig­ure is still in­suf­fi­cient for the phys­i­cal re­open­ing of schools, which the min­is­ter hopes can be achieved be­fore the end of the year once vac­ci­na­tions ramp up.

Stu­dents from ages 12-18 are cur­rent­ly be­ing al­lowed to ac­cess the Pfiz­er vac­cines which T&T re­cent­ly re­ceived from the Unit­ed States gov­ern­ment.

But speak­ing to re­porters af­ter the open­ing of the Siparia Union Pres­by­ter­ian School yes­ter­day, Gads­by-Dol­ly said on­ly 20 per cent of the stu­dent pop­u­la­tion has so far been vac­ci­nat­ed while Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley is hop­ing for a 65 per cent to 75 per cent vac­ci­na­tion rate be­fore the phys­i­cal re­open­ing of school.

She al­so ex­pressed con­cerns that a Trinidad vari­ant of the COVID-19 virus could de­vel­op based on the re­luc­tance of many cit­i­zens to get vac­ci­nat­ed.

“I am con­cerned that we could end up with a Trinidad vari­ant. The pan­dem­ic is now a pan­dem­ic of the un­vac­ci­nat­ed, so yes, I am con­cerned. I want all the chil­dren to be safe and I want my chil­dren to be safe. We have a sit­u­a­tion evolv­ing and I am con­cerned about the Delta get­ting in­to the com­mu­ni­ty and we have a large un­vac­ci­nat­ed pop­u­la­tion, so as a cit­i­zen, I am im­plor­ing per­sons do not let this hap­pen.”

Asked what was caus­ing cit­i­zens to re­ject vac­cines, Gads­by-Dol­ly said it was fear.

“They are afraid of what will hap­pen if they take the vac­cine but da­ta shows that the vac­cine can save your life,” she said.

MInister of Education Nyan Gadsby-Dolly addresses the gathering during the commissioning of the Siparia Union Presbyterian Primary School yesterday.

KRISTIAN DE SILVA

She not­ed that de­spite a wide­spread ed­u­ca­tion­al cam­paign to en­cour­age vac­ci­na­tions, there were still too many un­vac­ci­nat­ed peo­ple walk­ing around the coun­try.

“We are not sat­is­fied with the rate of vac­ci­na­tions. We were at 3,500 a day at the start and now we are down to 1,500 or less. We are urg­ing par­ents to get their chil­dren vac­ci­nat­ed, as this would of­fer a lay­er of pro­tec­tion.”

She said stu­dents who are miss­ing reg­u­lar school are fac­ing neg­a­tive life­time im­pacts on their ed­u­ca­tion.

How­ev­er, she could not say how many teach­ers had so far been vac­ci­nat­ed, not­ing that this in­for­ma­tion has not been col­lat­ed.

And as schools open vir­tu­al­ly on Sep­tem­ber 6, Gads­by-Dol­ly said she was hop­ing that once more stu­dents are vac­ci­nat­ed, a phys­i­cal re­open­ing of school could be arranged for the stu­dents who are close to writ­ing their ex­am­i­na­tions.

Mean­while, Fyz­abad MP Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe, who was at the com­mis­sion­ing, al­so urged cit­i­zens to get vac­ci­nat­ed, not­ing that this was the best ar­se­nal to pre­vent death due to COVID-19.

Bo­doe, a med­ical doc­tor, said he has al­so been en­cour­ag­ing peo­ple in his con­stituen­cy to vis­it their near­est vac­ci­na­tion cen­tre as soon as pos­si­ble.

“I know there have been two is­sues of mi­nor com­pli­ca­tions with stu­dents but I want to urge par­ents and stu­dents to go with ver­i­fied in­for­ma­tion and facts. I en­cour­age stu­dents and par­ents to do what­ev­er they can to get vac­ci­nat­ed,” Bo­doe said.

He added, “We’re re­al­ly in a time where emo­tion is over­rid­ing rea­son and we, as key stake­hold­ers, have to pro­vide in­for­ma­tion and with Delta vari­ant here we have to get as many peo­ple vac­ci­nat­ed as pos­si­ble.”