Mem­bers of the Spir­i­tu­al Shouter Bap­tist com­mu­ni­ty to­day cel­e­brate a hard-won right to prac­tice their re­li­gion with­out fear of dis­crim­i­na­tion or sanc­tion. But even as they cel­e­brate, they do so un­der the cloud of COVID-19 re­stric­tions.

Their right to free­dom of wor­ship and cel­e­bra­tion is cur­tailed by a dis­ease that has all but brought the world to its prover­bial knees, with a rush for vac­cines even as new vari­ants emerge.

There is no doubt that the cel­e­bra­tions will be in some way af­fect­ed, giv­en that health of­fi­cials, as well as Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley, con­tin­ue to em­pha­sise the need for pro­to­cols to be ob­served.

But we have no doubt that de­spite the re­stric­tions there will be a cel­e­bra­tion for the free­dom that came af­ter much tri­al and tribu­la­tion.

To­day will al­so be a red-let­ter day for this coun­try if all goes as planned, as, af­ter much un­cer­tain­ty, Trinidad and To­ba­go ex­pects to re­ceive the first ship­ment of vac­cines from the CO­V­AX fa­cil­i­ty.

T&T is ex­pect­ing to get 33,600 dos­es for the vac­ci­na­tion dri­ve which is sched­uled to be­gin on April 6. First to re­ceive the vac­cines will be front­line health­care work­ers and those over 60 in the coun­try’s non-com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases clin­ics in the pub­lic health­care sec­tor, ac­cord­ing to Health Min­is­ter Ter­rence Deyals­ingh.

The num­ber of vac­cines ar­riv­ing, while a drop in the buck­et for what is need­ed for herd im­mu­ni­ty, is in­deed wel­come.

Many cit­i­zens are suf­fer­ing from COVID fa­tigue and the in­ci­dent last Thurs­day with the At­tor­ney Gen­er­al him­self cap­tured with­out a mask and not ob­serv­ing pro­to­cols, brought home the re­al­i­ty of just what a tire­some bur­den has been placed on all of us to pro­tect not just our­selves but the wider com­mu­ni­ty and our fam­i­lies.

That the AG, who crafts the reg­u­la­tions which im­pose fines and re­stric­tions on the pop­u­la­tion, could have let his guard down sig­nals that even as a law­mak­er and some­one in au­thor­i­ty, he too is grow­ing tired and for­get­ting the im­por­tance of lead­ing by ex­am­ple.

One can on­ly hope that in their cel­e­bra­tions to­day, mem­bers of the Bap­tist faith, as dif­fi­cult as it would be, do not fol­low the ex­am­ple of the AG and those who gath­ered at Movi­eTowne over the week­end but heed the call to be sen­si­ble and fol­low the pro­to­cols.

Let­ting our guards down will spell dis­as­ter for us, vac­cines or no vac­cines. We just have to look at the ex­am­ples of oth­er coun­tries who, de­spite in­oc­u­lat­ing cit­i­zens, con­tin­ue to reel un­der the im­pact wrought by the dis­as­ter of COVID-19.

This is not a time to be lax or for­get the dan­gers which lie ahead, whether we spend time in wor­ship or with our fam­i­lies.

COVID-19 does not dis­crim­i­nate. It does not know race, colour, creed, or class, nor is it con­cerned with po­lit­i­cal af­fil­i­a­tion. The virus is the great equalis­er and we are all at risk. It is up to us to do what is re­quired and en­sure we stay safe and pro­tect our loved ones.

Hap­py Spir­i­tu­al Shouter Bap­tist Lib­er­a­tion Day.