By Sue-Ann Wayow
THE 84,000 doses of AstraZeneca received from Canada this week will be available to the public from Monday at nine mass vaccination sites.
And first doses of the Sinopharm vaccine will be administered at the 109 health centres across the country.
On Saturday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh announced that on Sunday, persons will be able to make appointments via phone or online. While walk-ins will be facilitated, priority will be given to persons with appointments.
He gave a breakdown of the AstraZeneca vaccine distribution to the various sites with the Southern Academy for Performing Arts (SAPA) receiving the most with 10,000.
Tobago will receive 4,000, Paddock and the National Academy of Performing Arts (NAPA) in Port-of-Spain will have access to 3,000 each, the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT) in Chaguanas, the Divali Nagar site in Chaguanas and the Ato Boldon drive thru site in Couva will all receive 5,000, the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua -4000 and 2,000 will be allocated to the Mayaro Regional Sporting Complex and the Sangre Grande Civic Centre.
Tobago will begin its AstraZeneca rollout either Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.
Deyalsingh also said out of the vaccines from Canada, 31,300 were expiring at the end of August and 50,700 will expire at the end of October.
First and second doses of the Sinopharm vaccines will also continue to be administered at all public health centres and the two drive thru sites at the racetrack in Wallerfield and the heliport in Chaguaramas.
“There are many people who want the Sinopharm vaccine, you are not forgotten in all of this,” Deyalsingh said.
He also lamented about the drop in vaccine administration and told the public that they now had a choice of which vaccine they wanted and should take advantage of the opportunity especially as it was now within walking distance.
He said, ” The government through the RHAs and the private sector, we have the same cost structure and it cost about $75,000 to $100,000 a day to run a mass vax site to give out free vaccines and all we ask of the population is to take advantage of it. It may save your life.”
He revealed that 30% of the population was now vaccinated with a first dose and 16% with both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine.
Deyalsingh also said, “The South West Regional Health Authority(SWRHA) has been consistently the best performing RHA in terms of numbers.”
Persons interested in obtaining the AstraZeneca vaccine can make an appointment from Sunday by calling 800-VACC or online at www.ttvaccine.com.
