CMO: First case of vaccine complication detected in Trinidad and Tobago

Trinidad and Tobago has had its first case of vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia thrombosis.

Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram made the announcement at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann’s on Saturday.

The American Society of Haematology website said symptoms develop four to 30 days after vaccination. They include severe headache, visual changes, abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting, back pain, shortness of breath, leg pain or swelling, and easy bruising, or bleeding.

Parasram said thrombocytopenia was a low level of blood platelets and occurred in four in every one million people who had the AstraZeneca vaccine. He said the patient was doing “very well.”

“So basically our first case, it seems very plausible, and we'll report that to PAHO as well.”

He also said out of the 504 samples sent to the University of the West Indies lab to check for covid19 variants, 100 had the Brazilian variant and nine had the UK variant.

“Since the first P1 there have been 363 tests. One hundred of those P1s, which is the Brazilian variant, represent 27.6 per cent of that particular group.”

He said the most recent case of the UK variant was in a national who, so far, had no link to repatriation. It is being investigated urgently.

Epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said if the rate of new cases continued as it has over the last several weeks, the numbers would double in the next 21 days.

“We are looking at that landmark and if we don’t reach that landmark, then we will, again, conclude there has continued to be slowing in the number of cases as time moves forward and the regulations take effect.”

Principal Medical Officer of Institutions Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards said the seven-day rolling average of new cases has been approximately 500 over the past three weeks.

She said as of Saturday morning, admission to hospitals continued to increase, but the number of people being discharged is about equal. She said occupancy of all hospitals in the parallel health care system, except Couva hospital, was over 75 per cent. But overall hospital occupancy decreased and was under 75 per cent.

“However, this is due to the increased number of hospital beds. And over the last month in Trinidad and Tobago, we have actually tripled the number of hospital beds.”

She said these new beds were being filled within 24 hours.