KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent – Former prime minister, Sir James Mitchell, is supporting the St. Vincent and the Grenadines government’s coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination policy and has criticized politicians whom he says are “lukewarm about vaccination”.
Sir James Mitchell“The prime minister is not doing anything that the rest of the world not doing,” Sir James said in a statement that some political observers say are critical of the main opposition New Democratic Party (NDP), which Sir James founded in 1975 and led until October 2000.
“ So you look at what (President)Macron is doing (in France). You look at what Canada is doing, etc. We have to do all we can to get people vaccinated and convince them. Spend our energies convincing people to get vaccinated. Any other thing, any other statement, for me, is inadequate,” said Sir James, who served as the island’s second prime minister from 1984 to 2000 and as Premier from 1972 to 1974.
Speaking on a local radio program, Sir James said politicians set out to lead the people “and we are in crisis.
“If you don’t want to stand up and be counted now in a crisis, what justification have you being in politics?” he said, adding that his hotel on the island of Bequia was closed from last Sunday because of the impact of the pandemic.
He suggested that the government award an EC$50 (One EC dollar=US$0.37 cents0 voucher for a meal at a restaurant to each of 20,000 Vincentians taking a first dose of the vaccine.
“I cannot understand a politician who is lukewarm about vaccination or not prepared to take a stand. Are they not aware that they are going against the tide of history? Are they going to change their mind when, like Grenada, 105 people die in St. Vincent from COVID? What makes you think we will escape? COVID is not going away, it will be here. And we have got to learn to protect ourselves,” Sir James said.
Opposition Leader Godwin Friday, who is fully vaccinated, has repeatedly said that his party believes that vaccination is the fastest and safest way out of the pandemic. But Friday, has maintained that the NDP does not support mandatory vaccination and that education should be used to persuade people to be vaccinated.
Sir James said that while some people have advocated for protocols such as frequent washing of hands and wearing of face masks, “it is only one of the tools to fight COVID.
“The best tool is vaccination. That is what the whole world thinks; [what] every country thinks. Everybody is aiming to be there,” he said.
The 90-year-old politician said a meeting of the Interaction Council of former presidents and prime ministers, which was scheduled for last year November was postponed to April, then to December because of the pandemic.
“And now I got a communiqué …that St. Vincent and other countries in Latin America, in our region, are not certified to travel to Malta. And not just St. Vincent; Nigeria and some parts of Africa,” said Sir James, who is fully vaccinated.
“So the label is out there internationally,” he said in reference to the island, adding “that in the hotel business, potential guests ask two questions: “Is St. Vincent safe?” and “Is or your staff vaccinated?”
“What are you going to do, lie? You can’t lie because the statistics on St. Vincent, anybody can pick it up on the cell phone. You just have to Google world vaccination statistics, St. Vincent and the Grenadines and your figures will come up.”
He said PAHO has just released the figures about the Americas with 88 million people confirmed as suffering from COVID and 2.175 million persons dead.
“Come on. Where are we going? How are we going to be safe?”
The former prime minister said he had received the heart-breaking news that his godson’s daughter in Canouan had contracted COVID, presumably at a school graduation.
“There are problems all around. It makes me want to cry. I plead, I beg; I ask Vincentians, go for it. Don’t worry with those who want to say, ‘I agree with it but not mandated.’ Any politician who talks about the word mandated, he does not understand the problem of communication with our people.
“If you say I am for vaccination, but I am not for mandatory vaccination, the word mandatory drops and people will label you and say you are against vaccination,” Sir James said.
“You got to be on board on all counts. I regret to say that everybody is entitled to their view but as a scientist, as a person who has spent a lot of time 50 years of my life, helping and looking after the people of St. Vincent, if you think you owe me one, the one thing that I say Vincentians owe me is to get vaccinate. Please, go and get vaccinated,” Sir James added.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines has recorded 18 deaths and 3, 359 infections linked to the virus since March last year.
