The Executive and members of the Saint Lucia Medical and Dental Association would like to state unequivocally that our position on COVID-19 vaccination remains that EVERY SAINT LUCIAN CITIZEN ELIGIBLE TO BE VACCINATED SHOULD BE VACCINATED.
As a trade union, our principle role is the welfare of our members. In the context of this pandemic this has meant ensuring that adequate personal protective equipment, safe working conditions and Vaccines, once they became available were provided.
As a professional body of healthcare workers, guardians of our nation’s healthcare, we are duty bound to protect you the general public by offering the best scientific advice and providing the highest standard of healthcare. The local vaccine campaign started eight months ago yet we lag behind most of our Caribbean neighbours in terms of the percentage of our population which is vaccinated, a paltry 23.3 %. Fellow citizens, we must do better.
We cannot afford another deadly wave or to have our hospitals overwhelmed. We cannot continue to live as we have for the past 20 months, the impact on the mental health of frontline workers and citizens in general has been profoundly negative. We urge every eligible citizen to do your civic duty and get vaccinated at the soonest. The Vaccines have been proven to be safe and effective and are the best tool in our arsenal to fight COVID-19.
We vow to continue to do our part to educate and elucidate the perplexing aspects of COVID-19 and the Vaccines. To our policy makers, we believe that the time has come to seriously consider the implementation of vaccine mandates starting with key sectors such as essential workers and any individual who is in constant contact with others. We cannot allow the virus to win. The time to act decisively is now! Let’s take our lives back, let’s take our country back!