When Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley first made mention of safe zones for vaccinated citizens, it was welcome news for a population fatigued and financially frustrated by the number of restrictions implemented because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now that the October 11 start of the programme has been announced by Dr Rowley, several business chambers have embraced the move and are keenly anticipating the reopening of bars, cinemas, in-house dining at restaurants and the return to gyms.
The recreation, entertainment and restaurant sectors have been heavily impacted, as they were forced to close for months at a time as COVID cases climbed and the Government implemented stringent measures to contain the spread. Many of these businesses had no choice but to part ways with trusted and committed staff members, as they could no longer afford to meet their financial commitments.
Now that vaccinated people can once again patronise these establishments, they have been handed a much-needed lifeline to resume business activity to stay afloat.
But not everyone is happy.
Some critics are accusing the Government of discriminating against those who are unvaccinated. Others claim opening safe zones only to the vaccinated is nothing short of an attempt to coerce citizens to take the vaccine.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Several countries and popular cities around the world, among them France, have issued similar mandates and even passed laws in order to provide safe environments for vaccinated persons to conduct various types of activity - including recreation and travel.
Trinidad and Tobago, like other countries globally, cannot afford to keep its economy closed and must find a way to balance its economic needs and prevent a rise in COVID cases once more, especially with the Delta variant now here.
As seen elsewhere, the only way to navigate such a tight rope is to reopen sectors and industries but with strict measures like safe zones for only those who are inoculated.
The vaccination debate has been raging for months and despite the efforts of the Government and health experts, who have presented solid scientific evidence of its ability to save lives, the list of sceptics continues to grow.
The rate of vaccination locally has slowed and the hope of Dr Rowley to have 70 per cent of the population vaccinated by year’s end, seems to be wishful thinking at this stage.
While it is the right of each citizen of this country to decide what can and cannot go into their bodies, the health of the majority must still trump those of a few.
Those who do not wish to be vaccinated cannot now say they feel excluded from safe zones when it is known that congregating, especially when not vaccinated, creates the right environment for the virus to spread. In the same way they feel they have a right to refuse vaccinations, those who have taken them are also entitled to recreational activity in safe environments.
Indeed, the almost 500,000 citizens who have put the country first by taking the vaccine should be entitled to getting their lives and livelihoods back and returning to as much normalcy as possible.