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THE EDITOR: When the Prime Minister spoke on Saturday at his media conference, it pained my heart that he said only vaccinated students from Forms 4, 5 and 6 will be allowed to return to face-to-face classes.While I understand that the reopening of schools must be done with a high level of caution, it must be also noted that there are students who would not be able to get vaccinated due to medical and religious reasons.
So would unvaccinated teenagers not be allowed back in school for face-to-face classes? Are we therefore now giving the green light to practise vaccine discrimination? If we are, how far would the discrimination go? Would employers also have the right to deny jobs to unvaccinated people? Or fire workers who did not get the shot? Where would it stop?
Are we forgetting that both vaccinated and unvaccinated people can spread the virus? There have been international reports of vaccinated people getting covid19 and possibly spreading it.
If someone is vaccinated, he/she has a greater chance of surviving the covid19 infection (and unvaccinated people who have survived the virus have built up a strong immune system), so why should they be worried about interacting with an unvaccinated person?
Didn't a minister say that both vaccinated and unvaccinated students have to coexist?
While I am happy that many people including teenagers are getting vaccine, we have to be careful that we do not discriminate against the unvaccinated and deny them their human and constitutional rights.
What happens if unvaccinated students who have medical and religious reasons for not getting the shot are unable to continue accessing online school work – or never did? There are hundreds of children who have dropped out of school because they cannot cope with online work. Should they therefore be denied an education?
There are still parts of TT where citizens have no internet, electricity, no running water or proper infrastructure. Does anyone care or are bothered about this sad reality?
According to World Health Organization's website, “One of the aims with working towards herd immunity is to keep vulnerable groups who cannot get vaccinated (eg due to health conditions like allergic reactions to the vaccine) safe and protected from the disease.”
I beg all sensible people to stop the discrimination now. I am not saying you should not be careful with your life but I am encouraging you to pray about this matter, seek God's intervention and make the right choice. Now more than ever, we need to understand the importance of having God in our lives and Him directing our paths.
Stop discriminating against people who are unvaccinated.

JJ ALI

via e-mail
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