PORT OF SPAIN – The Trinidad & Tobago government hinted at the possibility of having public servants vaccinated against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19).
It maintained, however, that it was not pushing for mandatory vaccination in the two-island state as a policy to curb the spread of the virus that has so far killed 1 437 and infected 49 442 others since March last year.
“We have not today assigned that to government employees, but if it becomes necessary, we will,” Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said.
“The government has taken up a whole lot of the response to the virus. For example, all government employees have got their full emoluments during this pandemic.
He said: “People who are in the private sector… where the business just could not carry the burden, many persons have lost their jobs.
“But what we did was to make sure that the population got its means of survival with the government carrying at taxpayers’ expense a huge burden.”
Rowley announced on Thursday that safe zones for fully vaccinated people will come into effect from October 11.
He reiterated also that face-to-face classes for fully vaccinated senior secondary students will begin on October 4.
The government, which also announced a one-hour reduction in the daily curfew hours, said fully vaccinated people will be allowed to participate in several activates, including in-house dining, going to cinemas, gyms and casinos.
“To get more activity in the country, especially to those persons who have been carrying the burden of the shutdown, give them an opportunity to conduct their businesses because we now know that it is possible to reduce the risk through the vaccination programme,” Rowley said.
“As we bring more and more people out, it is possible that a few more persons will get infected…but we are hoping and we are anticipating that persons will see that exposure and say that infection I am exposed to, I can ameliorate it with a vaccine.”
(CMC)
