A MASS vaccination for all health workers is being planned for next week Friday as the country braces for the arrival of the Delta variant of Covid-19.
Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram speaking at the mass vaccination site at the National Academy for Performing Arts, Port-of-Spain on Friday said if immunization coverage was sufficient, the population may stand a better chance at fighting the variant that spreads more rapidly than the Brazilian variant.
The delta variant has already been detected in over countries including the Caribbean.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley said Trinidad and Tobago could not, not expect the Delta variant of the virus to reach especially with foreigners arriving in the country.
Dr Parasram said one person infected with the delta variant can infect up to eight people. He again pleaded with persons to take the vaccine.
He said, “It’s a highly transmissible virus that we have to be prepared for. But we have a defence this year. We have a vaccine that is safe and effective, recommended by the World Health Organisation. As we prepare for delta, the only way to get out of it is to get vaccinated as quickly as we can, to get us all safe to the place we want to be.”
Dr Parasram added that if that particular variant was allowed to spread, the country may have to resort again to strict lockdown measures which Government was attempting to avoid.
Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said the ministry was not waiting on the Delta variant to arrive and said he met with the Caribbean Public Health Agency, Pan American Health Organisation, and all five regional health authorities to alert them on what needed to be done to respond to the variant including border control and the mass vaccination of health care workers.
Deyalsingh said, “The right thing to do now is to take the vaccine and be vaccinated. If the delta variant moves, as it did with the P1 variant, we are in trouble.”
While taking the vaccine is still optional, “with freedom comes responsibility,” the minister added.
See related story below:
