Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by this author are their own and do not represent the official position of the Barbados TODAY Inc.
by Patrick Gittens
I have followed all four town hall meetings dealing with the entire issue of COVID-19 vaccinations and to be honest I have been disappointed. And my disappointment rests not with the contributions which have been for the most part highly educational and eye-opening.
My peeve has been with the moderation of the town hall meetings which is poor and the coverage from the media which has been worse.
The narrative from officialdom is to get vaccinated. Persons who go down this road are being given full, uninhibited opportunity to vent – even when venting banal and skewed personal opinions. They are free to insult others while boldly declaring that they scorn the unvaccinated since they will live as others die.
Some who bring documented evidence that does not conform with the pro-vaccine narrative are either cut off too quickly, threatened with having their mic muted, told that they are making speeches, and most critically, when they have the medical panelists cornered, their specific questions are not answered but the professionals on the panel cleverly take the dialogue into a different direction that does not answer specifics but make generic statements about “fake news” and the need to get vaccinated.
The irony of all this, which seems to be lost on our medical professionals and politicians on the panel, is that other medical professionals and organisations are themselves questioning the efficacy of the vaccines and are promoting the importance of enhancing one’s natural immunity.
A recent British public health study has stated that the two most commonly used vaccines against the now major Delta variant of the virus, weaken in three months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated this month that there is a significant decline in vaccine effectiveness dealing with the same variant. But our panelists are not delving into the science of these reports and suggesting what should be the next step to be taken.
A young man tried to engage a medical professional on the panel at the earlier town hall meeting and made some excellent points about natural immunity and the fact that some countries in Europe are no longer fixated on vaccinations as the be-all and end-all requirement for entry into their countries.
This, because there is the realisation that vaccinated and unvaccinated are both contracting, spreading and occasionally dying from COVID-19, and that the biased pro-vaccination narrative is a skewed response to panicked people.
Has anyone stopped to realise that the vast majority of people who have caught COVID-19 have RECOVERED from it because of their NATURAL IMMUNITY, and NOT VACCINATION? Check all the bulletin boards across the globe with respect to contracted and recovered persons.
I hung my head in shame when the spokesman for the local Nyabinghi Rastafari order attempted to state that religion’s collective stance on the issue. He was cut even as he begged for some latitude. That was deplorable moderation from the official.
Here we have a grouping of people who are perceived as largely marginalised and disadvantaged by society not being given the opportunity to contribute to the national discussion.
Then we wonder why sections of our community don’t feel engaged or equal.
If these town hall meetings are meant to educate, then all facts must be allowed and explored and explained. Perhaps the most mundane, politically tinged and utterly stupid contribution by one woman was picked up by the media and given prominence. Why her?
This appeared to be mainly because she was going down a pro-vaccine line and heaping praise [I don’t know how it got there] on the current Mottley administration for all that it had done to save the world from extinction and rid Barbados of poverty and starvation. But persons with apolitical opinions, presenting documented or historical facts who were unsupportive of vaccination seem to be easy targets to hustle off the mic.
This issue is dividing Barbados because the unvaccinated are being portrayed as unpatriotic and menaces to society and such like. This is wrong! There have been no attempts by Government to unite, they are seemingly more interested in the citizens who complement their narrative.
A human being must have the right to have a say about what is injected into his or her body.
An individual should not be deprived of making a living because he or she chooses to hold dominion over his or her own body. I smile when I see and hear black Barbadians, the descendants of a slave past, now deciding that people that look like them should have no say about their bodies. Talk about slave mentality!
I smile when the predominantly white business class, descendants of slave owners, say they are willing to test making vaccinations mandatory, in a court of law, in a country where the working class is predominantly black. Talk about Massa mentality! And now I am on this I want to congratulate activist Winston Clarke and his group for what they are doing in showing that choice means something in every democracy, especially where one’s body is concerned.
Those who would go the route to make reference to his past but in the same breath speak of the greatness of a Malcolm X and similar figures, do not understand the character of the human spirit, the power of choice and change, and the determination to make a difference in one’s life and that of others. Kudos to you, chap.
And finally, it amazes me that there are many who have blind faith in taking a vaccine that has divided opinion even among scientists and doctors who are both for it and against it, but ignore the fact that the persons producing the vaccines are unwilling to take pecuniary responsibility and liability for what they are putting into the world’s DNA.
Most objectors, if not all, have been previously vaccinated when they were children or as adults. But I wager that their parents or later they themselves accepted vaccination because there was an environment of certainty and trust.
But with the COVID-19 situation, there has been skepticism and mistrust firstly attached to the natural and/or man-made origins of the virus, then the subsequent scientific divide on vaccine efficacy and now the deliberate attempt to manipulate information. In such confusion, governments would now seek to remove a human being’s right of choice.
Incredible!
This column was offered as a Letter to the Editor.
