By Sue-Ann Wayow
THREE out of every 100 persons who get Covid-19 in Trinidad and Tobago will die.
This according to Technical Director of the Epidemiology Division Dr Avery Hinds at the Ministry of Health virtual media conference on Wednesday.
He said, “Three in every hundred individuals who get the virus have a fatal outcome.”
Dr Hinds added, “If we have a small number of adverse events that have not yet been confirmed out of 1.3 million (vaccinated) it is clearly much of a higher risk to have the virus than to have the vaccine.”
To date, 2,537 persons who were not fully vaccinated against Covid-19 have died a Covid-19 related death, 175 persons fully vaccinated have also passed on and 390 people died before the vaccination programme.
Dr Hinds explained the difference between causal and co-relation if death occurs after taking a Covid-19 vaccine.
He said once reports are made, specialist analysis would be required to determine if taking a vaccine did indeed cause the death of someone or caused adverse reactions which Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh emphasised were different to general side effects.
Dr Hinds said, “You may have two events that occur in relative proximity with respect to time, one happening after the other but just because that is sequenced, it does not mean that the thing that happened first necessarily was responsible for the thing that happened second.
“What would be needed to establish the causal link would really be some specialist review of the sequence of events, the type of symptoms, the actual unfolding of the medical events and the test results that would suggest whether or not, this is actually related to the pre-existing vaccination event or not.”
Deyalsingh also said there seemed to be a trend globally amongst the vaccinated, many of whom who were dropping their guard against the virus by not fully adhering to the wearing of the mask, washing of the hands and social distancing.
And persons without proper forms of identification can still get a vaccine and persons have been administered vaccines without IDs but that number was small, the minister said.
