HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has said the voices of credible people encouraging others to get vaccinated are drowning out the voices of those who continue to perpetuate "conspiracy" theories such as "sunlight kills covid."
He was speaking with reporters on Tuesday after a tour of the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA), one of several mass vaccination sites set up throughout Trinidad and Tobago to increase vaccine distribution.
Deyalsingh rejected the latest attempt by the UNC to resurrect its "sunlight kills covid" claim at its virtual meeting on Monday night.
"So you have that 'sunlight kills covid' garbage which was facilitated by a political leader, very irresponsibly so." Deyalsingh said, "You may have noted the comments made by other world leaders about the role of social media, especially Facebook, where their algorithms promote vaccine conspiracy theories more than vaccine facts."
He said this is why Government has implemented initiatives like its "Voices for Vaccination" to combat misinformation about covid19 and vaccine hesitancy. Deyalsingh cited social influencers such as comedienne Nikki Crosby and RC Archbishop Gordon as some of the participants in this initiative.
He said apart fom the Government, leaders and people in society who are trusted and non-political are educating people individually and collectively about covid19 and the importance of being vaccinated.
After noting that TT will cross the 1,000 covid19 death mark soon, Deyalsingh said, "What we knew at the time is what we did at the time. There is nothing that we have said that we could have done better or done differently."
He said people all over the world have died from covid19 and he empathised with citizens who lost friends and relatives to the virus.
Deyalsingh hoped one silver lining of covid19 is that people take better care of their health and protect themselves against non-communicable diseases.
He said there is no evidence that large numbers of people who took their first covid19 vaccine, did not return for their second.
"Most people who have had their first shots, thankfully, are coming in for their second shots."
The post Deyalsingh: Covid conspiracies being silenced appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.
