Don’t touch, it’s just ‘wet paint’

By Vernon Khelawan, vkmoose@gmail.com

It is not only in Trinidad and Tobago that devices (cellphones etc.) rule the world. They are global. In many instances they serve like double-edged swords. For many, they are used positively. For many others, possibly more, they are the source of so much misinformation, it is not funny. But are we surprised? I am not.

It takes me back to the time when a ‘wet paint’ sign plastered close to a freshly painted surface had to be touched to see if the paint was really wet.

Similarly, with Covid-19. Do you really have to get infected with the disease to realise that the several kinds of vaccinations available were okay to get?

All this hullabaloo about children taking the vaccination is really ‘passe’. For those who can remember, weren’t vaccines for polio, yellow fever, mumps etc., given to our children and adults without this “rights” fuss?

For the polio outbreak a few decades ago, there was no outcry, and the same for yellow fever and mumps. When you were born, you got vaccinated and you did not even know. There was never this “rights” issue. It was par for the course. Today, everybody has inalienable rights. By the same token, what about my rights? Don’t I have a right to protect myself from Covid by wearing a mask, practise social distancing and repeated sanitising and washing of hands?

If I own a business, don’t I have the right to ensure that my staff, who interacts with my customers, do not get infected by observing the proper protocols? There are rights there, too. Does any one of these rights supersede the other? We are still awaiting a proper answer.

The vaccine hesitancy being seen today has nothing to do with any medical or scientific data. Religion plays a very small part in such hesitancy. It is mainly the work of our armchair scientists and their computers or other devices who are prepared to spread massive disinformation across the country, because there is not factual scientific data to back up this misinformation.

If we truly want to return to some semblance of life as it was known, including liming, social activities, sport, exercise and work etc., then we must reach herd immunity as quickly as possible by more citizens being vaccinated.

Let’s be real. If you choose, for whatever reason, not to take the vaccine, that is your absolute right, but if perchance you are struck down with the virus, statistics reveal that you could possibly infect about ten persons.

Then, is it your right to pass on the disease to family and friends? I don’t think so. I would urge therefore, that you get vaccinated as soon as possible.

With a roar of approval, the Roman Catholic Church in this Archdiocese gladly welcomed  the news that churches are open again and that Services—Holy Mass being most important—can once again allow the faithful to gather for worship. Of course, the ability to receive Holy Communion has brought great joy to thousands of practicing Catholics.

In my personal capacity, and because I want to get Trinidad and Tobago moving again, economically and otherwise, and with faith in the Almighty, I want to urge all our citizens not yet vaccinated to make one gigantic effort to get their jab soonest. Don’t be too late, vaccinate!