After calling yesterday the launch of the country’s vaccination program a huge success, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said it is probably the most significant day in the history of Trinidad and Tobago in terms of public health and public health interventions.
Speaking at the Covid-19 virtual press conference on Wednesday, Deyalsingh said: “In the face of a global pandemic that is now seen as a hundred-year-old event, we launched our national vaccination plan. Therefore, this in itself is significant.
“Yes, there are some operational issues, as you can imagine, and we will address them, but overall, yesterday was a tremendously successful day.”
Noting that some 1,153 people were vaccinated yesterday with the AstraZeneca vaccine, the Health Minister said the total of one day exceeded the initial target of 1,000 they hoped to reach by the end of the first week of the program.
A breakdown of the figures among the country’s five regional health authorities (RHAs) showed that 471 people were vaccinated in the southwest RHA, 280 in the North Central RHA, 171 in the eastern RHA, 151 in the RHA of Tobago and 80 in the RHA RHA northwest.
“What are some of the positive aspects we can draw from yesterday? One, the public has confidence in the vaccine. There is a high level of vaccine acceptance in Trinidad and Tobago. That means we have a smart and informed audience and I want to congratulate them. I want to congratulate Mr. and Mrs. Trinidadian, and Mr. and Mrs. Tobagonian.
“Yesterday I took the vaccine myself, which I was dealing with, as we say, with health workers. And I’m totally glad I was vaccinated. I personally trust the vaccine and I have faith in the vaccine, otherwise I would not have taken it, ”said Deyalsingh.
He said that, based on this, he wants to encourage more and more people to get the vaccine as the country receives more supply and as they deploy more and more vaccination sites.
“I’m sure one of the questions they will ask me is if I have experienced any side effects and the answer is no. He had no fever, no headache, nothing. I had a comfortable night. I have no pain at the injection site, so I’m perfectly fine, but we know some people have experienced some minor side effects, and that shouldn’t be minimized.
“So far we have administered more than 2,000 vaccines, including yesterday’s plus what we started with health workers. And so far, in analyzing the trend of these 2,000, we have not noticed any adverse effects. There are there have been some side effects but no side effects “.
He noted that vaccinated people usually overcome side effects within 24 to 48 hours.
The Minister of Health stated that three additional vaccination sites under the Northwest RHA will soon be added, after having faced some previous setbacks to achieve this.
“When the team led by the OCM (medical director) and the RHAs visited some of the downtown places like Oxford Street, George Street and Woodbrook, they found these health centers because they were in the city, or well they had no parking nor inside were they too small to accommodate a safe number of vaccinated people.
“So we didn’t want to delay the project while we were carrying three more sites, so we’ve been working on it for the last few weeks and we’ve looked at three other sites.”
He said he hopes that on Saturday, when it is over, the people of Port of Spain and its environs will be informed of the location of the new sites, which would lead to a significant increase in the number of vaccines under the NWRHA.
“I want to thank everyone at the Ministry of Health and the five RHAs who worked with us, who planned, spent sleepless nights and worked over the Easter weekend to have a successful launch yesterday.”
He said it was very appropriate to celebrate World Health Day as it comes a day after the country started its vaccination program aimed at health workers and the most vulnerable in society.
Meanwhile, Maryam Abdool-Richards, chief medical officer of the institutions, was more temperamental in her clinical update of the Covid-19 country.
He said the country registered 22 more cases of Covid-19 yesterday, bringing the number of active cases to 392.
He also noted that there were some growing trends regarding the transmission of the virus.
“We have seen hospital occupancy levels rise by two per cent in the first week of January this week, where it has risen to 13 per cent. This increase began about three weeks ago when we saw an increase in the number of cases. which have been consistent over the past three weeks or so.
“In addition, the average number of cases was about three at the beginning of the year and remained constant until about three weeks ago. As of this week, the rotating average has multiplied by ten, passing from three to 30 ”.
Abdool-Richards said that after mapping the global transmission of the virus by the epidemiology and GIS departments of the Ministry of Health, what was pointed out over the past three weeks is a change in the transmission of cases from the central regions. and from south to east -West Corridor.
“It means that we are now seeing a transmission of the Covid-19 virus throughout the country. It is no longer limited to the central and southern regions, but now goes to the east-west corridor with a similar prevalence rate or a similar number of cases as the central and southern areas.
He stated that this really emphasizes the need for all members of the population to exercise their Covid-19 mitigation measures.
“I would like to remind members of the population that, although we successfully implemented the vaccine yesterday, the Covid-19 vaccine is just an additional layer of protection for people and for our population. In addition, I would like to remind vaccinated people to continue with their Covid-19 measures to reduce the Covid-19 virus, so you should continue to practice the 3Ws: watch your distance, wash your hands, and wear the mask correctly. said Abdool-Richards.