By Sue-Ann Wayow
MORE than three times the number of persons expected to be vaccinated have taken the Covid-19 vaccine says Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.
He said more than 45,000 persons took the vaccine which was three-and-a-half times what the government had anticipated.
And more vaccines would be arriving from the COVAX facility on Monday.
Deyalsingh was speaking during a press conference on Friday hosted by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley as more lockdown measures were announced.
A sombre Deyalsingh said he wept on Friday morning as he observed people on Brian Lara Promenade congregating.
He said, “I wept, I really wept when I saw what was taking place at the Brian Lara Promenade this morning at 8.30am, a total disregard for the public health measures.
“It was sad. I pulled aside… and literally a tear came to my eye. It did.” The minister took a deep breath.
He said, “We do not know what else to do to get the man on the street to understand how severe this is but also how important their role is in combating this virus.”
Deyalsingh said he had no problem with people drinking White Oak and Coca Cola at 8am but they should do it at home, not on the promenade sitting within a foot of each other and with masks off.
However, there was hope with the promised arrival of vaccines and he again admonished the public to strictly observe all public health protocols.
Deyalsingh said, “This good measure now means that 33,600 together with the reserve we have from the 40,000 gift from the government of the people of India, we can now fully vaccinate for the first time, 60,000 persons in T&T.”
The confirmed date of arrival would be next week Monday at 5.30pm at the Piarco International Airport and he will personally be collecting them.
Additionally, the Sinopharm Beijing vaccine from China has received World Health Organization (WHO) approval and a gift of 100,000 vaccines should be on its way by early next week.
On Friday, WHO announced that it would list for emergency use the vaccine made by Chinese firm Sinopharm along with the Beijing Institute of Biological Products.
Deyalsingh said it was the same vaccine which was the topic of discussion between Dr Rowley and Chinese officials in March. He said all measures for the vaccine were already in place as they awaited WHO’s approval.
“All the preparations that we had in place have now swung into action today once we got approval,” he said.
Deyalsingh added that discussions were in progress for the commercial distribution of the Sinopharm vaccine in the “hundreds of thousands.”
He said, “It is our intention with to vaccinate ourselves out of this pandemic in the shortest possible space of time.”
Deyalsingh said, “People are now making death bed admissions, ‘I had a party’, ‘I went to a party’, ‘I had a gathering’, ‘I had a lime’ which we don’t pick up in contact tracing but people are making death bed admissions, that ‘yes, I congregated,’ ‘I went to a party’, ‘I went home by somebody.’”
He said brighter days are ahead but people must follow the public health measures.
He wept, he really wept…and the he said ONE tear… what a farce. People have been abandoned by him and his government abroad, without food and shelter, people have died in this country… he sees a man drinking and he cries a single tear ….steups