The Tobago Business Chamber is appealing to all Tobagonians to ignore mauvais langue and get vaccinated now.

This comes on the heels of last Saturday’s news conference at the Scarborough Library, where the Prime Minister dismissed calls by business stakeholders to open Tobago’s economy fully, saying that would result in an increase in covid19 infections on the island. He said the calls to open beaches, bars and restaurants would have a negative effect, warning that the country must bite the bullet and not make premature decisions that would prove costly in the long run.

Responding to questions via WhatsApp message on Tuesday, head of the Tobago Chamber Martin George said while the Chamber wants businesses to reopen, it shares the sentiments expressed by Dr Rowley.

“We have to prioritise lives over livelihoods. So we urge all Tobagonians who are eligible for the vaccine to go out and get vaccinated, as that's our fastest route to being able to reopen for business and to begin to save livelihoods...The priority must be to save lives first, and to achieve that mandate, we must vaccinate.”

So he again appealed for people to get vaccinated.

“To all Tobagonians and persons living in Tobago or visiting Tobago, I am making this personal plea, as part of our corporate social responsibility, as the leading business chamber on the island: we wish to urge and encourage all persons to be vaccinated.”

Pointing out that the government has made vaccination available at health centres, he urged: “The science is clear – follow the science. Don’t follow superstition and old talk and mauvais langue and bacchanal, and irrational fears and concerns which have no justification either in logic or in science or in fact.”

He said the sooner everyone is vaccinated, the sooner Tobagonians can resume their day-to-day lives.

“If you look at statistics internationally, 99.5 per cent of all persons who are now dying from (the) covid19 virus are persons who are unvaccinated."

He also said the longer Tobago, as an island, remained unvaccinated, the longer it would take to be able to reopen the economy.

"When we as a business chamber call on government to reopen the economy by ramping up the vaccination drive and increasing the marketing and advertising drive, we are also calling upon you, the citizens, to do your part.

"It’s no good if government has made the vaccines available and you, the citizens, for all sorts of irrational and illogical reasons, are refusing to do so.

“It’s the fastest way for us to get back to some sort of normalcy on the island and get back to what we consider life as before.”