HYPOCRISY IN HIGH PLACES

                                                                              By Rupert Sorhaindo

As the country grapples with the impacts of and the uncertainty surrounding the recent surge in the number of covid positive cases and covid-related deaths, various opposition forces seem to want the situation to worsen by promoting vaccine hesitancy as the health authorities seek to increase the vaccination rate as one of the effective measures, among others of reducing the spread of the SARS-COV-2  virus.

Ironically, the Leader of the Parliamentary opposition, in a recent statement has condemned the government for having been woefully short in reaching its target of vaccinating a sufficient proportion of the population to arrive at the desirable “herd (population) immunity” level.

To put the hypocrisy of Mr Linton, his colleagues in the UWP and their enablers into context, we need to go back in time to mid-March 2020, when the health authorities were making preparations for what was viewed as the inevitable arrival of the covid virus in the country. In a DNO report on a UWP news briefing held on Thursday, March 19, 2020, the UWP leader is quoted as saying “Dominica needs a covid-19 response budget, at least $50Million for the national effort to prevent, detect and respond to the rapid spread of covid19 and to assist our people through the rapid days of economic fallout.”.

The report continues “he said, given what the data reveals about the behaviour of the virus around the world, Dominica is at risk of a 25% infection of the country’s 60,000 population in the coming months, which is well before a VACCINE is available to treat this killer respiratory disease”. 

Implicit in that statement, is Linton’s appreciation of the historical fact that vaccines are a very effective tool in the protection of people from infectious and other diseases; and yet, almost eighteen months into the pandemic which he had estimated would have caused “15,000 covid cases, 750 to 1,500 of which will be serious and in need of hospitalization”, he has not been heard to credit the government for making a number of vaccines available and accessible to the public, or to encourage Dominicans to get vaccinated.

At the commissioning of the Doris Musgrave Health and Wellness Centre in Marigot, he was presented with the golden opportunity to demonstrate his confidence in vaccines as an effective means of slowing the transmission of the virus and to offer support to the government’s efforts towards attaining “herd immunity”,  however, Mr Linton did not say one word of encouragement to his constituents and to the nation about the critical importance of getting vaccinated.. not one word! His obsession then was with “billions of missing CBI dollars”.

Like Donald Trump, Linton may very well have availed himself of the opportunity to get vaccinated against the covid virus; after all, he would have anticipated that proof of vaccination would have eventually been mandated for international travel. By taking the jab in public, as has been done by our President, Prime Minister, Ministers of Government, the Roman Catholic Bishop and other prominent figures in our society, Mr Linton would have sent a clear message to the nation and would have almost certainly brought the country closer to the attainment of population immunity.

The president of the UWP, Mr Isaac Baptiste has admitted to having been vaccinated against the covid virus “for personal reasons”, yet he continues to justify vaccine hesitancy, even after listening to Dr Griffin Benjamin, and Dr Janelle Baptiste provides clear medical justification for the efficacy and effectiveness of the available covid vaccines, on a programme hosted by his party’s leader on Sunday.

In fact, Dr Benjamin voiced strong support for mandatory vaccination, although I am of the view that he ought to have given greater recognition to the sterling efforts of his colleague healthcare professionals on the frontline of the battle against the virus.