PM: Government buys two shipments of vaccines

THE Prime Minister announced that Trinidad and Tobago will be receiving additional doses of covid19 vaccines starting next month and continuing into July and August.

Dr Rowley made this announcement at a news conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's on Saturday. In making this announcement, he disclosed that TT will receive 10,000 doses from Grenada on Sunday and a second shipment of doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China, has also been confirmed.

He did not disclose the quantity of the additional vaccine supply which the government has bought.

After reminding reporters about the challenges that TT and Caricom as a whole were experiencing earlier this year  in acquiring vaccines, Rowley said, "Today I could tell you that we are in a much better position.

"In recent days, we have made two substantial payments for vaccines that will allow us to have a continuous supply of vaccines to bolster and accelerate our vaccination programmes.

"The payments have been made and in the next six-eight weeks. Starting here in June, we expect to have a flow of vaccines that will keep us busy in an acceleration of the vaccination programme."

He said, "If you are citizen of TT, vaccines will be available to you for free and the best vaccine is the one that is offered to you unless you have been advised against it by your specialist health care adviser, your doctor."

Rowley continued, "We do know that many of us have certain conditions that may cause advice to be that the vaccination made be a remedial risk that you may want to avoid."

After he said the consensus amongst the majority of the population is to be vaccinated, Rowley appealed to citizens who wished to be vaccinated to do so as quickly as possible.

He thanked the Grenadian government for its vaccine gift and said there are no expiry issues with these doses.

Rowley said the confirmation of a second shipment of doses of the Sinopharm vaccine means "we can use up all that we have in hand now as first dose, because we have a confirmation of vaccines coming in to create the second dose."

TT recently received a first shipment of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and it is hoped by the end of August 134,000 people will be fully vaccinated, just about ten per cent of the population.