By Prior Beharry
“AN EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCE” allows the Ministry of Health to give women who are pregnant two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines after receiving one Sinopharm before pregnancy.
This was revealed by Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram when questioned by AZPNews.com at the Ministry of Health Virtual press conference on Wednesday.
The Ministry of Health is allowing a pregnant woman to get two doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, if she had a Sinopharm before pregnancy.
This combination is not approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) whose guidelines the Health Ministry follows for Covid-19 vaccine mixes.
Dr Parasram reiterated today that WHO has approved mixes of AstraZeneca followed by Pfizer and AstraZeneca followed by Moderna. T&T never distributed Moderna in the public health system and all of the AstraZeneca in stock expired at the end of November.
Asked about why the ministry was allowing a Sinopharm/Pfizer mix that was not approved by WHO, Dr Parasram said, “That is what you call an exceptional circumstance.”
He said, “So you have somebody who has had one dose (of the Sinopharm) and then, of course, becoming pregnant and the only dose you can have thereafter if Pfizer, of course.
“So it is an exceptional circumstance… it is a restart of your vaccination programme based on her pregnancy state and, of course, we are urging all pregnant women to be vaccinated as quickly as you can as well because it is considered a high-risk state for Covid-19.
“So the benefits outweigh the risks and we know that the Pfizer followed by the Pfizer is an acceptable combination and it is the only choice that that individual would have had to protect her and her baby during that time so it is a benefit versus risk analysis and it was an exceptional circumstance and if we have other cases like that the clinicians would make the decision based on the circumstance.”
He was also asked about the fact that WHO has approved the Pfizer and Sinopharm vaccines for breastfeeding and pregnant women but T&T was only giving Sinopharm to breastfeeding and Pfizer to pregnant women in their second and third trimesters.
An answer in the frequently asked questions section of the Minister of Health website states:
Pregnant women who are in their 1st trimester are not advised to get the Covid-19 vaccine at this time.
Pregnant women in their 2nd and 3rd trimesters should only receive the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine.
NB- Approval has been granted for the administration of the Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine to breastfeeding mothers in Trinidad and Tobago. Thus breastfeeding mothers should ONLY take the Sinopharm Covid-19 Vaccine at this time. This directive follows the National Immunization Technical Advisory Group’s recent approval of the Sinopharm vaccine for use by breastfeeding women in this country. This vaccine is also approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) for use by breastfeeding mothers.”
Asked about why the Ministry did not follow WHO guidelines concerning the use of the Pfizer and Sinopharm for both pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, Dr Parasram said,” That National Immunization TAG considered the recommendation from WHO and they thought that based on a number of factors… looking at technical data that they got that we thought it wise to use the Pfizer for the that particular group (pregnant women) and we took that decision a couple of months ago.”
Speaking at the Ministry of Health press conference on Monday Director in the Directorate of Women’s Health Dr Adesh Sirjusingh said four out of the seven maternal deaths in Trinidad and Tobago this year were due to Covid-19.
He urged pregnant women to get vaccinated and also said there were four cases where positive Covid-19 mothers passed on the virus to their babies with one resulting in a stillbirth.
See related stories below:
Pfizer Vaccines for Women who Took Sinopharm, Then Got Pregnant
