The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

POLICE Commissioner Paul Rolle said he is going to take the COVID-19 vaccine and hopes other officers take the shot as well.

“I’m going to take the vaccine,” he said on the sidelines of a police event in the Gambier community yesterday. “As soon as they get to the law enforcement, the Royal Bahamas Police Force, I’m going to take it and I would hope that the other officers, you know, they would join me in taking it as well. The vaccine is for the good of all.”

He added: “But today, whenever they do it, I’ll be more than willing to take the little stick.”

However, he said, he will not invite the media when he goes for his vaccination.

“I’m not going to invite the media there when I’m taking it,” he said. “I don’t know when that is going to be, but I mean that’s a personal thing. If the media is there and they catch me, you know I think it’s safe to say I plan to take it and... I would hope each of the officers will make that decision for themselves.”

Asked if he has spoken to police officers about taking the vaccine, he answered: “That’s not for me to do. I believe the system is going to be open and... they have that choice. So I’m not going to be directing anybody what to do.”

He was also asked about the possibility of new police recruits being required to take the vaccine as medical criteria to enter the training programme.

“I would hope that by the time as we (are) ready to take in more recruits that this thing be past (us)... Let’s hope that this is behind us,” he said in response.

The government received 20,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine last week, which was a gift from India. More than 100 people got vaccines during a pilot initiative on Sunday. The roll out of the vaccine campaign is set to begin today with healthcare workers in the public sector, private sector healthcare workers participating in the vaccine rollout; residents and staff of eldercare homes and non-ambulatory residents registered in the public health system and staff of the uniformed branches eligible to receive the vaccine in this phase.

Meanwhile yesterday the commissioner also indicated he will be rolling out the RBPF’s policing plan in “short order”.

“The fundamentals of law enforcement do not change and so we had to do things different last year because of COVID,” he also said. “COVID is still with us. COVID has not gone yet and so some of the same things we did last year, we’re gonna continue to do again this year.”