The prime minister of the republic of Trinidad and Tobago Keith Rowley has reacted to parent's nonchalant attitude towards their children vaccination as the government will begin to implement strict measures by mid September.
If the Government is not happy with the number of vaccinated students come mid-September, then the Prime Minister warns that the decision to be inoculated for COVID-19 may be taken out of the hands of parents and guardians.
The Education Minister today announced that come September 6, online classes will resume as her Ministry monitors the vaccination program, she mentioned to reporters that herd immunity within that population is around 65 to 70 per cent of students.
In delivering remarks at the commissioning of the San Juan Government Primary School, Dr Rowley urged parents to be responsible and vaccinate their children.
He hoped that the US Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the Pfizer vaccine today will clear up some doubts.
However, he said his Government can act against vaccine hesitancy.
“If by the period that we’ve set, which is mid-September, we look back on it and we see only a population of vaccinated students which is well below the herd immunity level of 60% to 70% then the Government will have to act.
“So far we have left it up to parents to be reasonable, to be understanding, to be caring and to be responsible and if it gets to that the Government will have no difficulty in intervening on the children’s behalf as we did with measles, with mumps, with other aspects of healthcare where the children cannot make the decisions themselves.”
Dr Rowley said they will not make the decision lightly but if they have to do it “we’ll do it.”
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