Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh described the steady turnout of people at a vaccination drive in Port-of-Spain yesterday as “an excellent gift” ahead of his birthday today.
He was responding to reporters’ questions during a rollout of Johnson and Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccines by the North West Regional Health Authority’s (NWRHA) on the Brian Lara Promenade.
Commenting on Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley’s announcement of vaccination safe zones which will be coming into effect from October 11, Deyalsingh said: “There is absolutely no discrimination. It’s a way to open up the economy and country safely and for people to participate in it.
“It’s happening around the world, it’s not a Trinidad and Tobago idea. This has been tried and proven in France, Italy all over the world. There’s absolutely no discrimination, people can make a choice. The choice is yours.”
Deyalsingh said while people who are flouting public health restrictions by attending (zesser) parties are in the minority, all it takes is just one spark for infections to spread.
He said the Delta variant, which has been detected in this country, posed an even greater danger and appealed to people to do their part by not congregating in party settings.
Deyalsingh said T&T’s health system hasn’t collapsed like other countries where people can’t get a bed and the country is on the right path.
Also present at the vaccination drive were Port-of-Spain Mayor Joel Martinez, Downtown Owners and Merchants Association (DOMA) President Gregory Aboud, and Dr Anthony Parkinson, of the NWRHA.