THE Opposition UNC never encouraged covid19 vaccine hesitancy amongst the population and has never attacked the integrity of public health officials during the covid19 pandemic.
UNC Caroni East MP Dr Rishi Seecheran made this statement at a virtual news conference on Thursday.
"We have always been on the side of vaccines."
Former UNC MPs Dr Tim Gopeesingh and Dr Surujrattan Rambachan have called on people to accept any World Health Organization (WHO)-approved vaccine that is offered to them.
Gopeesingh had covid19 last August. Rambachan, who is currently recovering from it, has called for an end to politicising covid19
Seecheran reiterated the UNC's claim that Government was late in trying to access covid19 vaccines for the population.
Referring to the shipment of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine arrived from China at 1.09 am on Wednesday, he wondered why greater efforts were not made to acquire Pfizer vaccines.
He said this vaccine could be used to immunise children between 12 and 17, giving secondary-school students a chance to return to school.
On Monday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said Government is working towards a commercial sales agreement with Pfizer to acquire doses of its vaccines for the population.
Deyalsingh said on April 29, Government received a heads of terms of agreement from Pfizer, and this will be a precursor to a commercial sales agreement detailing the quantity and price of doses of its vaccine for TT. He explained the same process is happening with respect to Sinopharm.
But Deyalsingh warned, ""There are those who wish to derail the vaccine programme."
He cautioned people against saying anything in public that could hinder efforts to acquire vaccines from Sinopharm and Pfizer.
Seecheran also said Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has great respect for this country's public health officials and health care workers. He boasted that many of the facilities which now form part of the parallel health care system to deal with covid19 were built during Persad-Bissessar's tenure as prime minister.
Without it, he asked, "Where would we be right now?"
He accused Deyalsingh of using his ministry's virtual news conferences as a political platform to attack the UNC.
Seecheran said there was nothing wrong with Persad-Bissessar or the UNC asking questions about people with covid19 receiving proper medical care.
"It is my leader's right to ask questions. She is the Opposition Leader."
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