Last week I was on radio while a listener called in saying that ‘Robert Abela wants to kill our senior citizens’. The gentleman then referred to how authorities were sending twice for the same persons for vaccinations and how the Prime Minister gave us all a false sense of security, thereby triggering a crescendo of virus cases. Naturally, the gentleman’s words on the Prime Minister intending to put anyone in jeopardy had to be corrected. I did so immediately, on air. The Prime Minister, undoubtedly, does not wish to see the piling number of deaths and infections of this pandemic. As for the gentleman’s second statement, however, it is hard to contradict.
The pointers which our citizens can feel and touch do not point to good management. One person I spoke to told me how he was called to alert a good week after his contact with an infected person.
The person owns a take-away outlet. He could have infected a score of others in that time lag. Another acquaintance of mine told me how she called eight times over two days on the covid-19 helpline before finally getting someone to reply after the never-ending jingles.
Contact tracing of individual cases is falling behind by up to nine days. With the number of cases touching the 300 mark daily, the situation is dire. Pointing fingers to those involved is a bit too simple for me to entertain. Behind the 145 hotline and behind the contact tracing efforts there are hundreds of dedicated personnel who are putting in all their efforts to help the country get out of this pandemic. They are the ones facing the stress and the mountain of responsibility as they see the cases increasing rather than decreasing, notwithstanding their best efforts. They have my full solidarity.
The professionals leading the charge against the pandemic are certainly not to blame for this. But what about the politicians in the lead? Did they play their role to contain the pandemic as was in our best interest? For instance, are the delays in contact tracing and the collapse of the covid-19 helpline due to lack of resources? Does the Government which manages to squeeze in 700 persons of trust contracts fail to provide an extra score of hands to those on the pandemic frontline? Or is it, rather, a lack of planning and foresight? Is it true that the operational front is sourced with ‘help’ gathered here and there in a piecemeal fashion for a few weeks at a time?
The World Health Organisation has been warning governments for at least a year now to prepare for a long-haul war against the pandemic. Did we lower our guard too early and ended up without the manpower to trace and stop the spread of individual cases?
Then comes the handling of the vaccine roll-out. Stories in our villages abound of how Ċetta and Peppu got their vaccine by serendipity as the nurse ended up with a few extra doses at the end of the shift. Put that potential opportunity together with the news of several 20-year buried relatives being invited to take the jab or the same person getting the invitation twice or three times and you have a potential ploy for a percentage of the precious stings to be distributed on discretion. Vulnerable, over eighty, frontliner or none of that - there is a way to bypass all criteria. No wonder the poor souls behind the 145 hotline cannot keep up!
Funny thing though, that you get double invitations for a vaccine when we could simply use the electoral register. We had at least 4 months advance notice that the vaccine is coming, when you get only 6 weeks’ notice that an election is due. I would have expected that we would be better prepared.
Is this the best Malta can do in confronting this mammoth challenge? Can we allow amateurism to pervade the handling of the pandemic too? I believe that the call by Nationalist Party Leader Dr Bernard Grech for an inquiry into the handling of the roll-out is therefore not only a matter of public interest, but also a necessity if Government expects to clear itself and the vaccination efforts from the said rumours.
This is indeed a moment for sober politics. The jeers and jokes of Minister Fearne or PM Abela are simply not on. The attempt to shame the opposition for one of them attempting to jump the queue has evidently backfired. The same can be said of the PM’s predictions that by May, we will be ‘business as usual’. Both the PM and his deputy have shown themselves not to have foresight. This is precisely a moment where foresight and sober politics are fundamental. Government should understand that it has only one way of salvaging the situation: move aside and let the experts decide. Only they can get us out of this pandemonium.
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Peter Agius is a PN MEP candidate.