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THE Prime Minister on Sunday said several countries are facing the challenge of what he called “vaccine apartheid” as they try to access covid19 vaccines for their populations during the pandemic.
Dr Rowley made this observation as he dismissed allegations from Oropouche West MP Dave Tancoo that the Government was using the covid19 pandemic to achieve political benefits for itself and was causing the population and the economy to suffer because of its failure to acquire covid19 vaccines.
At a news conference at the Opposition Leader’s Office in Port of Spain, Tancoo said, “To date, we cannot tell when the vaccines will arrive in TT. He said several other Caricom countries have already received covid19 vaccines and are starting to distribute them to their citizens to help reopen their economies.
But Tancoo claimed that in TT, “The only part of the economy that is doing well are PNM friends, family and financiers.” He alleged that this was reflected by Government’s alleged interest in a particular firm to procure covid19 vaccines has attracted the attention of the TT Fair Trade Commission.
Tancoo also claimed that Government’s failure to move expeditiously to procure vaccines is driving foreign direct investment away from TT “to other Caricom countries and the rest of the world.”
After listing the number of vaccine donations received by other Caribbean countries, Tancoo wondered aloud if Rowley was hoping to benefit from herd immunity in the region.
In response to Tancoo, Dr Rowley declared, “It is just their attempt to play politics as people suffer the effects of vaccine apartheid. Something we never thought would be happening in 2021 but the truth is it is happening in the height of a pandemic.”
Rowley, the current Caricom chairman, has publicly spoken about inequitable distribution of vaccines between larger and smaller countries. Caricom has called upon the World Health Organization (WHO) to convene a global summit on this issue.
Rowley, has said Caricom is seeking to acquire covid19 vaccines for the region from India and the African Union; will approach the United States for help to access vaccines; there are ongoing bilateral talks with vaccine manufacturers and is asking its Caricom countries who acquire vaccines to share them with other member states.
On Tancoo’s claims, Rowley said, “Yet another piece of orchestrated rubbish which is spewed by certain elements which are constantly attempting to pollute the psyche of the people of TT.
He explained, “Vaccine manufacturers are so totally in control of their produce that their local agents have been excluded from obtaining supplies of vaccines for sale and distribution in our countries.”
Rowley continued, "If they (local agents) have no access to the vaccines, where and when are they going to make this killing? If local agents had access to the vaccines in our countries, would countries be going on bended knees trying to get vaccines?
“Wouldn’t we have just ordered it and bought supplies from local agents?”
Rowley said, “It is a season for liars and of liars but their lies don’t change the realities of what we are all facing in Caricom and elsewhere in the world.”
At the UNC briefing, Tancoo also said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar had not yet received a reply to the letter she recently wrote to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for vaccines for TT. But he added the Opposition hoped Persad-Bissessar’s request would still “find favour” with the Indian government.
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