Parents and children shopping in Tunapuna on Thursday had split views on the topic of the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for secondary school children ages 12 and up.

Most shoppers chose only to give first names or asked not to be named.

One shopper, whose daughter is 13, said she would not be allowing her to take the vaccine at this time.

'Maybe when she's 16 or older she can get it. If it becomes mandatory, she will be doing online schooling, especially with the delta variant around. Since she was a child and had to take her booster shots, she was sick each time for six to seven days, so I'm not taking the risk.'

Stacey said she would be fine having her 13-year-old take the vaccine, and hoped her 11-year-old could take it when he turned 12.

'I want to take the Sinopharm. I haven't gone yet because I have to carry my mother and I want to make sure we're in good health because we're hypertensive, and they don't do those tests when you go to take the vaccine, they just ask you. I want to be a little bit more advised about my mother because she has multiple sclerosis, so I'm stuck, but I definitely want my child to take it and I will take it.'

Mohammed's Book Store manager Kaycie Mohammed said she was eager for her son to take the vaccine. 'My family is fully vaccinated. I read about it and I'm confident about him taking the vaccine. I want him to go back to school and stuff like that, and I think it's the right thing to do.'

She said all the employees at the store's three locations had been vaccinated and they also ensure that the health precautions are followed, including masking, social distancing, and sanitising.

Manager Devi said her family was fully vaccinated and she was eager for her children to get the vaccine.

'I'm a little bit apprehensive about going back out to school, with the risks involved with covid19 and the new variant around. If they and their peers are vaccinated, I'd be a lot less apprehensive. My kids are between 16 and 18, so they could make their decision and the other one is still young, so I want to protect him.

'If they do make it mandatory I'll let them take it, If you want everything to go back to some sort of normalcy, you have to be able to take it. I think that's what your doctors are there for at the end of the day, you go and get yourself checked out, be informed and then you can make your decision.'

Shelley-Ann Mohammed said she was concerned about children having to take the vaccine.

'From what we are hearing, they are saying those children 12 and over have to take the vaccine. I haven't taken it for myself and I'm a little bit scared if I haven't taken it for me, to give it to her. If we have to take it because it is mandatory, we'll take it last-minute.'

Her daughter Ray-Ann Mohammed said she didn't think she would take it, although she didn't give a reason.

Seventeen-year-old Marc said while he was no longer in school, he would take the vaccine, but after giving it a