By Sue-Ann Wayow
MEMBER of Parliament for Cumuto/Manzanilla and medical doctor Dr Rai Ragbir has been selected as a “Sentinel Physician” by the Ministry of Health.
This means that he can now administer Covid-19 vaccines to persons desirous of obtaining one.
Dr Ragbir posted on his Facebook page on Saturday, “I have been selected by the Ministry of Health as a Sentinel Physician. I have Sinopharm vaccines to administer at no cost. Make the right choice and take the jab… the life you save may be your own or a loved one.”
He spoke to AZPNews.com on Saturday just before administering one of the 50 doses, he received, to a patient in Cunupia.
Dr Ragbir said on Friday, the Ministry allocated registered doctors with the vaccines so that they can make house visits especially to those who were unwell and had difficulty leaving home to go to a vaccination site.
There was no mention of this at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference on Saturday.
While he was unaware of all those who would have been deemed “sentinel physicians” Dr Ragbir said he received his vaccine vials from the County Medical Office of Health (CMOH) in Couva on Friday, along with immunization cards.
He said he received 25 vials containing two doses because that was how many his cooler could hold. They all have an expiration date of January 12, 2023.
Dr Ragbir said, ” This is an excellent initiative. We must be of humanitarian service. The doctors who received vaccines would have all been administering vaccines at the various sites he said.
The doctor says that with the Delta variant of Covid-19 looming at the Trinidad and Tobago’s borders, unvaccinated persons will have more adverse reactions and will also be spreaders to the vulnerable population who cannot be vaccinated at this time mainly children.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has not yet approved a Covid-19 vaccine for children under the age of 12 and the Pfizer vaccine that is the only one approved for children 12 and over is not yet available to the local population.
