VP Jagdeo condemns Opposition callous exploitation of vaccination fears

Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo

Vice President Dr Bharrat Jagdeo is calling out the instigators of APNU/AFC-led protest over Guyana’s Covid-19 measures, for their double standards.

In a post on social media, the Vice President said that as the PPP/C Government continues assiduously, with its efforts to ensure that Guyanese lives are saved by securing COVID-19 vaccines and advancing an aggressive vaccination campaign across the country, it is “absolutely abhorrent” that politically aligned elements are instigating protests.

The VP in a stinging post asked the executive of APNU/AFC along with its protestors, where were they when former President David Granger, on March 16, 2020, signed an Order, whose preamble sought to justify depriving Guyanese of “personal liberty” and “freedom of movement”?

Persons protesting the new COVID-19 measures

Granger’s Order, which was gazetted on March 16, 2020, authoried the then Health Minister, Volda Lawrence, to, among other things: 1) Destroy the personal effects, goods and buildings of Guyanese “exposed” to infection from COVID-19; 2) Conduct house to house visitation; 3) Restrain, segregate and isolate persons who may have been exposed to COVID-19; and 4) Prohibit or restrict the movement of persons, as well as public of private conveyances within and to and from areas deemed infected.

Expressing his infuriation at the double standard of APNU/AFC, Jagdeo noted that at present the “naysayers protesting the push for increased vaccination against COVID – ironically clad in mask and face shields – remained silent in the face of Granger’s draconian order.”

It is a fact, he added, that the global pandemic will continue to take the lives of people unless, collectively, everyone act responsibly. Already, to date over 260,000 persons in Guyana have received their first dose, while over 143,000 are fully vaccinated.

“I appeal to all our people to ensure that they are vaccinated so that our country can move faster to achieving herd immunity and to ensure that we reduce the number of lives being lost as a result of this global pandemic,” the vice president stated.