119 get vaccines in NCRHA health centres

VACCINATIONS for covid19 at sites managed by the North Central Regional Health Authority are "going smoothly" CEO Davlin Thomas told Newsday on Tuesday.

Thomas said some 240 people pre-registered to receive their AstraZeneca vaccines on Tuesday at four locations – Arima, La Horquetta, Chaguanas and St Joseph.

Up to midday, 119 people received their vaccines: 30 at Arima, 23 at La Horquetta, 44 at Chaguanas and 42 at St Joseph.

At 2.30 pm, Health Minister Terence Deyalsingh was due to receive his vaccination at the St Joseph Enhanced Health Centre.

Thomas said as the regional health authority which does most of the vaccinations for the H1N1 virus, Tuesday's exercise had no hiccups as the staff were accustomed to vaccinating the public.

While vaccinations were being done, many people showed up to register or took the opportunity to do so once there for regular clinic appointments, Thomas said.

One such person was Owen Griffith, 77, who hopes to receive his vaccine by the end of the week. Griffith went to the dispensary at the Arima Health Centre and decided to take advantage of the registration process.

Griffith said he was advised by his son, who is a doctor abroad, to receive the vaccine, much like his relatives did.

"The way I see it is, this is the only thing to save you. At my age is better to take it because if your don't and you get covid you might die. This is the only thing that can keep you alive."

On March 30, Trinidad and Tobago received 33,600 doses of the vaccines through the Covax facility. This was the second set of vaccines that TT received after 2,000 were donated by Barbadian government in February after they received a gift of 100,000 doses from India.