A DEBE vaccination site for the Pfizer vaccine will be up and operational by Wednesday says Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.
He said, “As we begin to rationalise our resources, especially in deep south, there’s going to be a rotational basis. The Penal site is up and we hope to have a Debe site that’s up as early as next week.”
The minister made the statement while speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference on Saturday.
The call for a Debe site came from Member of Parliament for Oropouche East Dr Roodal Moonilal who said children in the Debe/Penal/Barrackpore areas were at a disadvantage with the present allocation of vaccination sites.
Vaccination for persons within the ages of 12 to18 began at the Powergen vaccination site on Saturday the minister said.
Deyalsingh said there about 19 vaccination sites under the Ministry of Education with more sites being added on accordingly.
12% of the school-aged population vaccinated
He said the Ministry of Health along the Ministry of Education have vaccinated at least 10,759 out of around 90,000 persons from 12 to 18 years old or 12% of the school-aged population since their vaccination began on Wednesday.
Deyalsingh said, “Over the three days we would have averaged about 3,586 per day and six of those outside of those first dose, we would have administered six of those second doses of Pfizer to children who would have returned to these shores who received those Pfizer shots abroad.”
Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said that he was in contact with the Primary General Care Manager of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) earlier on Saturday regarding a report on someone having an allergic-type reaction to the Pfizer vaccine.
He said, “Generally between 10 to 15 minutes post injection is where you have the highest risk of getting an allergic-type reaction. So, we built our centres, including our health centres, with the capability including the manpower, excessive training to deal with the allergic-type reactions, they have all the medication that is required, and they all have ambulances on site.”
Dr Parasram said that the Ministry of Health expected that occasionally there would be mild to slightly severe allergic-type reactions to the vaccine but they were prepared in that event.
Pregnant women to get Pfizer vaccine by September
Deyalsingh also announced that there was consensus at a stakeholder meeting to offer the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine to pregnant women from their second trimester and he has already signed off on the necessary documents.
Rollout of the vaccination plan is expected to take place in the first week in September he said.
See related stories:
Education Minister Agrees with Moonilal on Vaccination Site at Debe
