Veteran bandleader starts campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated

Veteran bandleader and event promoter Chetwyn Stewart has started a National Vaccination Campaign Activation to encourage members of the public to take the COVID-19 jab.

The campaign was launched today at Abeds, Swan Street, The City, where persons who showed proof that they are vaccinated were given T-shirts with the words Get Ready Leh We Go written on them.

Stewart reminded people that while many livelihoods are still on hold due to protocols and restrictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the majority of the population being vaccinated is one of the ways for complete normalcy to return to the island.

He said: “We just getting out there interacting with people who have been vaccinated and reminding them to encourage their family and friends to get vaccinated. And as you can see it is going very well. We have given out over 150 t-shirts already and I am actually surprised that so many people have their proof that they are vaccinated on their phones. In less than half an hour we will be probably out of shirts, but we will probably be back here at Abeds next week Saturday”.

Stewart also indicated that he is seeking to utilize positive influencers in society to get on board the campaign to play their role in encouraging Barbadians to get vaccinated. He said the campaign, which he conceptualized after being asked by Prime Minister Mia Mottley to assist in the effort of encouraging persons to take the jab, will be touching different parts of the island in the coming weeks.

“How I became vaccinated is that a friend of mine, Dr Claudia Martindale encouraged me because I wasn’t about getting vaccinated. To me the vaccine was now coming out. But she said, ‘Chetwyn, you are 57, if you get sick, you might have to go down St Lucy, if you are vaccinated, I guarantee you wouldn’t get that sick’. And since then I got vaccinated and I have travelled to New York. Actually, I have just come back from New Jersey and I was surprised because when I went down there all my friends were not wearing masks, they were not doing this, they were not doing that. I asked them what was going on and they said ‘boy, we are 80 per cent vaccinated’.

“And then when I was in New York a friend of mine showed me some big freezer trucks and he told me ‘boy, I can’t believe a couple months ago we were putting bodies in those, but now we are 75 per cent vaccinated and things kind of turn around’.

“So that is what we want happening here in Barbados. I haven’t worked for a year and a half because I bring people together and you can’t do any events so that can only happen, as the Prime Minister said, if you get enough people vaccinated,” Stewart said.

Stewart was accompanied by four young women, his two daughters and their friends, who said he decided to give their time to assist with the Campaign because of its importance and relevance to Barbados returning to what it was before the pandemic.

Christa Stewart said while persons should get vaccinated to preserve their health, they should also see the need for a significant ease in restrictions.

“People have been suffering for almost two years now because of the restrictions and we are just trying to lower those. Not everybody will want to get vaccinated, we are not trying to push anybody, it is just to encourage us to get out there and help with getting these restrictions lowered,” Stewart said.

Shanae King said: “We need to push for vaccination so we can push for the restrictions to be lifted, work can start back, entrepreneurs can start hustling again, we can get back on the go and we can get the economy going again.” (AH)