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FORMER UNC MP Dr Tim Gopeesingh on Friday joined his former political and parliamentary colleague Dr Surujrattan Rambachan in calling on the public to take any Word Health Organization (WHO)-approved vaccine being offered to them.
This included the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine. This was to protect themselves against covid19 and reduce the strain being placed on the parallel health system by rising covid19 cases in Trinidad and Tobago.
Both men, who have had covid19, also called for an end to the politicisation of covid19.
In a statement, Gopeesingh said, "I urge all citizens to accept whatever covid19 vaccine is available and being offered at this time.
"Whether it is AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson or Sinopharm, the vaccines will be of tremendous benefit and reduce the chances of severe disease, hospitalization or death among covid positive patients.
Gopeesingh, a senior oncologist/gynaecologist by profession, explained, "It is a fact that the efficacy among the various covid-19 vaccines may differ...two jabs of some at least two months apart will provide safety (in) about 90-92 per cent of persons, while others will provide up to 75 per cent."
Notwithstanding this, Gopeesingh said, "This strongly outweighs the risks of severe disease or morbidity, whether short term or long term, from covid19 infections."
Gopeesingh tested covid19 positive last August.
At a news conference at the Opposition Leader's Office in Port of Spain in March, Gopeesingh accused the Gobernment of inaction in obtaining vaccines. He cautioned people about accepting covid19 vaccines through private-sector companies and agreed with the Prime Minister about reducing public gatherings to curb the spread of the virus.
In January 2020, while still an MP, Gopeesingh unsuccessfully tried to have the House of Representatives debate covid19 as a definite matter of urgent public importance.
Gopeesingh also appealed to Finance Minister Colm Imbert to ensure the Health Ministry receives all the funding it needed to address the pandemic.
"This is of paramount importance, in order to ensure that the hospitals and RHAs can afford to hire/pay salaries of the extra medical, nursing and paramedical staff, as well as fund the purchases all the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment), technical equipment, pharmaceuticals and other health supplies needed to ensure proper care of all current covid19 patients."He called for more covid19 vaccination centres and an improved communication system for people seeking vaccines.
Gopeesingh endorsed Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar's call for the Opposition and Government to have a bipartisan approach to covid19.
He supported Dr Rowley's and Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh's calls for people to adhere to the public health regulations and stay at home to protect lives.
Rambachan, who is recovering from covid19 in self-isolation at home, called for an end to the politicising of covid19.
"I think it is a waste of national precious time. I think it is putting national stress upon the population.”
He condemned the UNC for casting fear and doubt in the minds of the population over the vaccination policy. “If the government has a policy that they aren’t using vaccines that the WHO has not approved, then we are not going to use those vaccines. If they are going to use those vaccines the WHO approved, then that is it."
Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal commented, "I think my great colleague Dr Gopeesingh has endorsed what I was saying."
However, last Sunday, Moonilal questioned the efficacy of the Sinopharm vaccine and claimed citizens were being used as "guinea pigs" in its use.
Moonilal received his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on April 24. He then asked, "But now is water more than flour so he (Gopeesingh) advises all to take the jab with any of the approved vaccines?"
Moonilal reiterated that Deyalsingh and not the UNC is to blame for the country's management of covid19.
"With 87 deaths in 13 days, the Minister of Health must immediately resign."
After claiming the virus has assumed "apocalyptic proportions" in TT, Moonilal charged, "We are now a hemispheric basket case for covid and being isolated in the region."
Last Sunday, Rowley observed that Moonilal "had chronicled all the negatives that he could find on the Chinese vaccine."
He added, "Apparently he could not find the hundreds of similar issues raised on Astra Zeneca and the other vaccines. That is what happens when you are intellectually dishonest."
Rowley was scheduled to receive his first dose on April 6, when the first tranche of 33,600 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine arrived in TT. But he was diagnosed with covid19 on that day and went into quarantine at the Prime Minister's official residence in Blenheim, Tobago, for a mandatory period of two weeks.
Rowley was diagonsed covid19 negative on April 26 and subsequently came out of quarantine. WHO advice is to wait for six months after having the virus before being vaccinated.
Last Saturday, Deyalsingh said,"The fact is the covid19 Sinopharm Beijing vaccine has undergone a rigorous WHO vaccine assessment, which included on-site inspections of the production facility prior to the WHO official approval of the Sinopharm Beijing vaccine for the EUL on May 7, 2021."
On Tuesday, Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne said the shipment of 100,000 Sinopharm vaccines from China will arrive on Tuesday.
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