[UPDATED] 500 healthcare workers get vaccine

Trinidad and Tobago has vaccinated 400 healthcare workers up to Friday afternoon and 100 more are expected to get the covid19 vaccine on Saturday.

Speaking at the virtual press briefing on Saturday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said under the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), 120 front line healthcare workers were given the covid19 vaccination on Wednesday, 96 on Thursday, and 76 on Friday. The South West RHA vaccinated 108 people and the Tobago RHA received 200 doses to vaccinate 100 front line workers on Saturday.

“So we have another 600 (sic) to go, of the front line healthcare workers. We then stop there and reserve the second thousand to these people to get their second shot or their second dose.”

On January 10, Barbados gifted to Trinidad and Tobago 2,000 doses of Oxford AstraZeneca covid19 vaccine from the 100,000 doses donated to the country by the Serum Institute in India. The distribution to front line healthcare workers began on February 17.

“We are very, very pleased with these numbers because it speaks to a high degree of vaccine acceptance by our nurses, our doctors and our health care workers.”

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said those who were vaccinated would get their booster shots eight to 12 weeks after the first. The appointments are expected to be scheduled closer to 12 weeks after the first shot, since research showed they were more effective closer to that time.

“What they found as the results of the study is that in persons who would have received the vaccine in less than six weeks, those individuals would have shown an effectiveness of somewhere about 55.1 per cent.

“When the second booster was delayed anywhere between eight weeks to 12 weeks, closer to 12 weeks in some instances, vaccine efficacy for the AstraZeneca Oxford given in the region of 81.3 per cent, which is significantly higher.”

He stressed that the timing of the second doses would depend on the expiration date of the vaccine since the shelf life was six months from the date of production.

He added that there was a difference between side effects and adverse effects. Usual vaccine side effects include pain at the injection site, low grade fever, and fatigue. So far, the only side effects experienced by the 400 were mild pain at the injection site, and mild fatigue.

An adverse effect was “a significant event” that would require someone to be hospitalised or a reaction that needed to be documented.

“In TT there is a process that we have applied for many years so if an event occurs we can document it. And with this particular vaccine we have up a second check and balance in place where persons would be contacted by our tele-medicine branch on a continuous basis for a period of at least two to three weeks and then followed up for about a year to see if they have adverse reactions.”

Deyalsingh said once TT got its 100,000 to 120,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from the Covax facility by the beginning of March, the focus would be healthcare workers, non-communicable disease (NCD) clinics in the public health system, and homes for the elderly.

In addition to reaching out to those who go to NCD clinics, the ministry would be contacting over 80,000 people on the CDAP (Chronic Disease Assistance Programme) list, and it has a partnership with the private sector to distribute vaccines to doctors.

Deyalsingh explained there were enough for ten shots in each vial of the vaccine. Once it was opened, the vaccine would be viable for six hours. So, while the vaccinations would be done mainly through appointments, the centres would give them to walk-ins so as not to waste them.

Parasram added that another option was to take the opened vial to another vaccine site to be used. But anyone with a history of NCDs and anyone over 60 should be able to walk into a vaccination centre and be vaccinated.

Twenty sites were identified throughout Trinidad and Tobago for the vaccine roll out – three in the Tobago RHA, seven in the South West RHA, three in the Eastern RHA, and seven in the North West RHA. They were chosen because of their physical capacity, layout, and information and communications technology (ICT) ability, among other factors.

Twenty laptops were also donated to TT by PAHO, with one going to each of the vaccination sites, and a software platform developed to track patients has “gone live” with the 400 healthcare workers being the first entries.

“Of course, there were one or two little bugs to work out so we have worked it out and when we go more live with the 100,000 doses throughout these 20 facilities, all the bugs should have been worked out by then,” said Deyalsingh.

An integrated marketing and communications programme would be begin over the next seven to ten days. There would be a media workshop for heads of news, editors, and reporters to sensitise the media about the vaccine roll out.

There would also be public workshops which would be launched on social media as well as a website dedicated to vaccines, vaccine acceptance, and vaccine roll-out.

In addition, the covid19 hotline would be converted to a vaccine hotline.

“But we don’t want everybody calling on the hotline. We are going to make as much information available to you online and social media so you will call the hotline only for issues on special populations that don’t have access and personal questions you may want to ask.”

Deyalsingh stressed that ministry’s bilateral talks with vaccine manufacturers was in an “advanced and sensitive” stage. Non-disclosure agreements were signed so he could not give details that would jeopardise negotiations with manufacturers.

This story was originally published with the title "Deyalsingh: Health workers accepting covid19 vaccines" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

Trinidad and Tobago has vaccinated 400 health workers up to Friday afternoon and 100 more are expected to get the covid19 vaccine on Saturday.

Speaking at the virtual press briefing on Saturday morning, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said under the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA), 120 frontline healthcare workers were given the covid19 vaccination on Wednesday, 96 on Thursday, and 76 on Friday. The South West RHA vaccinated 108 people and the Tobago RHA received 200 doses to vaccinate 100 frontline workers on Saturday.

“So we have another 600 (sic) to go, of the front line health care workers. We then stop there and reserve the second thousand to these people to get their second shot or their second dose.”

On January 10, Barbados gifted to TT 2,000 doses of AstraZeneca covid19 vaccine from the 100,000 doses donated to the country by the Serum Institute in India. The distribution to frontline healthcare workers began on February 17.

“We are very very pleased with these numbers because it speaks to a high degree of vaccine acceptance by our nurses, our doctors and our health care workers.”

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram said those who were vaccinated would get their booster shots eight to 12 weeks after the first. The appointments are expected to be scheduled closer to 12 weeks after the first shot, since research showed they were more effective closer to that time.

He added that, so far, the only side effects experienced by the 400 were mild pain at the injection site, and mild fatigue.

Deyalsingh also said once TT got its 100,000 to 120,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine from the Covax facility, the focus would be healthcare workers, non-communicable disease (NCD) clinics, and homes for the elderly.

Twenty sites were identified throughout TT for the vaccine roll out – three in the Tobago RHA, seven in the South West RHA, three in the Eastern RHA, and seven in the North West RHA.