AFTER seeing a trend of vaccination reluctancy in Trinidad and Tobago, there was a surge of persons rushing for the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday.
The response has been described as “heartening” to the Ministry of Health which has been vigorously encouraging all adults to get vaccinated against the Covid-19 virus.
In some cases, police had to intervene to prevent overcrowding.
The Ministry began its rollout of the 82,000 plus AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived from Canada last week at the various mass vaccination sites.
Principal Medical Officer of Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool Richards at the Ministry of Health’s virtual press conference on Monday said 5,400 appointments were made as at 3pm on Sunday via the call centre or online.
“We have received a high level of vaccine acceptance and a high volume of calls which suggests that persons are very interested in obtaining the AstraZeneca vaccine,” she said.
She said of the 5,400 appointments, 4,600 were made online and 762 at the call centre.
Dr Abdool-Richards said, “This response is quite heartening given the Ministry of Health’s targets for vaccination.”
The PMO also said that more “sentinel physicians” were being selected to administer vaccines to patients who may have difficulty going to vaccination sites.
These physicians are allocated vaccines from the Ministry of Health and she said physicians were being added on a daily basis and they were also being added on a phased basis based on the availability and accessibility of vaccines.
Persons interested in obtaining the AstraZeneca vaccine can make an appointment by calling 800-VACC or online at www.ttvaccine.com.
