No preferential treatment for athletes in vaccine roll-out

THERE WILL be no preferential treatment for Trinidad and Tobago (TT) athletes with regard to the roll-out of AstraZeneca vaccines.

Minister of Sport and Community Development Shamfa Cudjoe, was asked on Tuesday whether or not athletes who are either Olympic-bound or will be involved in international events will be involved in this first rollout phase.

“That really is a matter that have to be dealt with from the advice of the CMO (Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram),” Cudjoe replied. “The Government intends to get the high-risk people vaccinated, and as it relates to anybody else, that will have to be taken up by the CMO.”

The TT men’s football team will resume 2022 FIFA World Cup Concacaf Zone qualifiers in June, and the rescheduled Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan are carded to take place from July 23-August 8.

Cudjoe pointed out, “The Sports Ministry does not allocate any vaccines. All vaccines, and how we’re going to do vaccinations, is being managed by the CMO.”

On March 18, during the Conversations with the Prime Minister, at the Mt Hope/Mt Lambert Community Centre, Dr Rowley mentioned, “I am sure by the time they are ready to go (to the Olympics), we should be able to have vaccines, and certainly those athletes who would like to be vaccinated should be able to be vaccinated here.”

TT Olympic Committee (TTOC) president Brian Lewis, in a Newsday article in January, said, “I affirmed that the TTOC’s position in regard to vaccines is that we will not be seeking priority access for (TT) athletes. We believe that the most vulnerable sections of society and health care workers must be first in line.”