By Sue-Ann Wayow
TOBAGO saw a decrease in the number of people being vaccinated following claims that a man in Trinidad died from blood clots relating to the Covid-19 vaccine.
However, that number is slowly increasing and to date more than 1,500 doses of the vaccine have been administered, according to acting General Manager of Primary Care Services at the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA) Dr Roxanne Mitchell.
Ministry of Health Principal Medical Officer Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards on Monday assured the nation that the AstraZeneca vaccine was safe and that there was no link between the vaccine and a recent death. Relatives of Ijaz Ali claimed that he died after taking the AstraZenca vaccine. The 60-year-old Princes Town man had heart surgery ten years ago and the autopsy stated that he died as a result of blood clot to the aorta. He died eight days after taking the jab.
On Tuesday, the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development gave its Covid-19 update during a virtual media briefing.
Using graphs, Dr Mitchell said so far the Scarborough Health Centre was leading in the number of vaccinations with 51% being administered, followed by the Canaan Health Centre with 31% and then the Roxborough Health Centre with 16%.
About the Roxborough Health Centre she said, “We began at a reasonable level, fell off a little and then we rose to a maximum around the 12th and 13th of April. But, we had a sudden falloff following the news article regarding the alleged clots found in a person from Trinidad. We have since seen the numbers pick up at Roxborough Health Centre.”
She added, “We are going to see a similar drop-off at the Canaan Health Centre but they have been holding steady with the number of persons over 60 and under 60.” And there was also a fall off at the Scarborough Health Centre, she said.
“As of today, our numbers have picked back up,” the doctor said.
Persons receiving vaccines from April 6 to April 16 at the Roxborough Health Centre were 218, at the Canaan Health Centre, 485 and the Scarborough Health Centre, 754, Dr Mitchell indicated.
There were 193 healthcare workers who received the vaccine, 664 persons under the age of 60 and 600 individuals over the age of 60 who has received the vaccine, she said.
Dr Mitchell said there were challenges with persons registering for the vaccines including:
- People giving the wrong phone numbers;
- The registering of children under 18, even as young as two years;
- People denying that they have applied to take the vaccine;
- People registering up to eight times and giving different information on each occasion such as adding a middle name;
- Giving a landline as a contact number and the TRHA not getting a response when personnel call.
Dr Mitchell also said that she expected the 2,500 vaccines allocated to Tobago in this phase of the vaccination to end for the latest by the second week in May.
