By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE third phase of the Covid-19 vaccination booster programme will begin from Monday.
This was announced by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Saturday at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference.
Deyalsingh announced that those who received their second doses of both the AstraZeneca and Sinopharm vaccines from August 1 to August 28, 2021, can access their booster shots from February 7 to March 5.
For recipients of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine during the period December 8, 2021, to January 14, 2022, those persons can receive their booster shots from February 8 to March 5.
To date, 113, 844 persons have already received their booster shot.
Persons can get a booster shot of a different vaccine once approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) according to WHO guidelines.
Boosters are being out at the mass vaccination sites only.
Deyalsingh said he was pleased that Trinidad and Tobago was slowly edging to the vaccination number of 700,000 for those who are fully vaccinated which would represent 50% of the population.
However, he still lamented the number of daily Covid-19 deaths being reported.
“Yes the number of deaths is going now and we are still unhappy with the number of deaths. And why because so many of deaths could have been avoided if people were just vaccinated,” Deyalsingh said.
He added, “Think about how much better we could be doing, if we are vaccinated.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram also said a meeting was scheduled for Monday with the head office from Washington regarding the third tranche of the Pfizer vaccine that is expected to arrive sometime soon.
The present batch will expire at the end of this month and is also being given as a booster shot for recipients of the AstraZeneca vaccine as there is no more AstraZeneca vaccines available for boosters.
After the meeting, then more details will be available regarding the Pfizer vaccines Dr Parasram said.
