From today, the community of Laventille West will not have to go very far for a COVID-19 vaccine.
Member of Parliament for the area, Fitzgerald Hinds announced yesterday that the St Barb’s basketball court will be converted to a vaccination site between 9 am and 3 pm.
The goal, he said, is to have all families in the community fully vaccinated. The MP said all of the World Health Organization-approved vaccines currently available in the country, Oxford, AstraZeneca, Sinopharm, Pfizer, and Johnson and Johnson will be administered at the site.
Hinds said a study was done in his constituency to better understand why residents were not willing to get the jab.
“There is a religious block. About five per cent who argue on religious grounds – the mark of the beast- that is very minuscule we found. Around here it is doubt, it is fear, it is ignorance,” according to the MP.
Hinds stated that there are some groups adamant about obstructing the efforts to get out of the pandemic.
“There are people who are making it a profession almost to obstruct and disturb the minds of those who are willing to take the vaccine but because of ignorance they are not being allowed to,” Hinds added.
The MP said it is important to sensitise people with the proper medical information.
Hinds was speaking to the media while distributing over 1,000 donated face masks and flyers to constituents yesterday.