Local PAHO rep: Vaccine distribution schedule by end of January

TT Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) representative Dr Erica Wheeler disclosed that the country will soon have a schedule for the rollout of covid19 vaccines.

At the virtual health news conference on Wednesday, Wheeler said, "There was a letter sent out to all the countries participating in the Covax facility, saying that at the end of this month, we will be receiving a schedule for the rollout of vaccines."

Reiterating that the Pfizer/BioNTech BNT162 vaccine is the first covid19 vaccine that TT will receive through Covax, Wheeler also said the procurement of cold-storage facilities for the Pfizer and other vaccines is on track.

She said she will visit the sites for these facilities on Friday. The facilities will be in Tobago, at Nipdec's Central Stores location in Chaguaramas and the Couva Medical and Multi-Training Facility,

Wheeler said a national vaccine deployment plan is in place and the ministry is acquiring other essential supplies such as swabs and syringes.

She explained that different vaccines require different pressure gauges with respect to the syringes used to distribute them.

Wheeler said Covax is on track to meet its target to distribute two billion covid19 vaccines by year's end.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said outside of Covax, bilateral discussions are ongoing between the Health Ministry and vaccine manufacturers for a supply of covid19 vaccines.