Workers in the food and beverage industry are eagerly counting down to the reopening of restaurants and fast food outlets, on Monday, as they prepare to return to work, two months after the Prime Minister brought back restrictions on the sale and delivery of food and in-house dining.
Hundreds of workers waited in line on Thursday to get the first shot of the covid19 vaccine on Thursday at the Paddock, Queen’s Park Savannah, one of the mass vaccination sites.
Many told Newsday they are excited to go out to work.
Others said the past eight weeks have been challenging and frustrating, as they were unable to feed their families properly with food hamper donations.
Janice Stuart, a KFC worker said, “When the prime minister shut down restaurants I didn't know what to do. I live from paycheque to paycheque, so I had no savings. No one could help, because everybody affected.”
Another worker, fromt Subway, said he had refused the vaccine twice , but agreed to be vaccinated after his wife encouraged him.
Four other people said they are more concerned about being able to provide for their families than rumours and warnings about taking the vaccine.
When asked if they felt they'd been forced to get vaccinated just to stay employed, the workers said that was not the case. They said they were getting the vaccine to reduce the risk of dying from the virus if they are infected while interacting with customers.
Kadijah Lewis, owner of a food cart, said, “Nobody can’t force me to do anything.
"All who saying what they have to say to get me from taking the vaccine not helping me feed my children or taking care of me if I get the virus and get sick.”
One man, who didn’t want to be named, said he idn’t want to take the vaccine but couldn't afford to stay home while his bills go unpaid.
“I’m just happy I could get to go back out to make money. People don’t understand, but it's really hard out here, especially if you don’t have money coming from anywhere else and you have to go through a set of problems to get through with this grant.”
In April, Dr Rowley tightened restrictions on the food and beverage sector after the country experienced a frightening spike in covid19 cases and deaths, leaving thousands of workers temporarily unemployed.
It wasn’t until the beginning of July the country started to see a decline in deaths and covid19 cases. Though Chief Medical Officer Roshan Parasram said, during a Ministry of Health press conference, it is too early to see the real impact of the vaccines, Rowley said TT is in a much better position to ease some restrictions.
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