THE EDITOR: I sincerely congratulate the Government on the announced acquisition of 800,000 J&J vaccines.

With 100k people at least receiving one shot and the promise of vaccines by the US it now appears that the country can reach some level of 'herd immunity.'

The road to this position was littered with accusations being thrown back and forth, most of which were unnecessary.

What has always been important and what should now continue to be of utmost importance is to ensure that the timelines indicated with respect to the arrival of the vaccines are achieved.

The country cannot continue to awake to the sadness that encompasses so many families who have lost loved ones as well as continue to live in a state of fear and economic and financial deprivation. Hunger among adults and children is a reality that we need to be acutely aware of. Joblessness is real and it is creating social chaos.

There is no doubt that people will only believe that this quantum of vaccines is really available until it arrives at Piarco. This is the nature of our culture. It is my fervent hope that the high expectations now created by the Prime Minister's announcement are experienced by the population.

Timeliness is now of the essence. Perhaps we could have been at this point long before now. That is had we been more aggressive in our approach to securing vaccines. Perhaps the so-called developed world by their desire to secure their own populations prevented the developing and underdeveloped countries from securing adequate supplies much earlier. This inequity has been the argument put forward by Dr Rowley.

All of this for me is now conjecture and speculation. It is now history and one hopes that the lessons learnt will inform future crises. Nevertheless, my congratulations. We await with anxiety the arrival of the vaccines.

SURUJRATTAN RAMBACHAN

former MP