By Sue-Ann Wayow
HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh on Monday said government had enough Pfizer vaccines to administer to everyone in the 12 to18 age bracket.
Speaking at the Ministry of Health’s virtual media conference Deyalsingh stressed that the ministry wants to vaccinate every person between those ages regardless of school, nationality and residential status.
He added, “We must have parental consent.”
There will be no appointment system but to manage crowd, the ministry is asking one parent accompany the child or children, Deyalsingh said.
Parents and guardians must walk with a form of identification, the birth certificate of the child/ward and proof of relationship to child for guardians only.
Together with the Ministry of Education, the ministry has identified the 14 sites to be used and one in Tobago.
The walk-in vaccination service will begin on Wednesday including weekends from 8am to 3pm with the exception of one site, the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas which will begin on August 22.
Deyalsingh said, “Take advantage of it (the vaccination). The Delta variant, if and when it becomes a community issue, the children of this country are the ones who are going to bear the brunt of it. All of us at health and at the RHAs, would not like it if five, six, seven weeks… two months from now we hear about a child in this 12 to 18 cohort who has passed from Covid. Why, because we have a solution.”
Those who are vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine once second shots are received within a three week period, should be considered fully vaccinated within a five week period.
