[UPDATE] Deyalsingh: Target is 62,000 second covid19 vaccine doses by mid-July

62,000 people fully vaccinated by the middle of July.

This is the target set for the country by Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh who said his ministry is working towards this vaccination goal.

Deyalsingh received his second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the Paddock, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain, on Monday.

He told reporters target numbers for daily vaccinations have changed.

“At the start of the vaccination programme, that (1,000 shots) was the target back then. If you recall, the very first day we did 1,167 (vaccinations) and then it gradually increased.

“So what we are doing today is starting up the second shots, so the people who were vaccinated on day one, which is 1,167 across the system, are now spread among five sets.

“So today we are doing 360 (shots) around. With each successive day, the numbers will go up, as they did two months ago.

“Our target is to finish off the second dose of all 62,000 people who received their first dose of AstraZeneca hopefully by the middle of July.”

The Paddock was one of five mass vaccination sites across Trinidad where people were vaccinated on Monday.

Deyalsingh also encouraged those who have not had a vaccine to come forward and do so, pointing out that vaccinations were the first step towards returning Trinidad and Tobago to normality.

SMOOTH 2ND DOSE ROLLOUT

For reasons such as wanting to travel and taking advice “from the man above,” a number of people took their second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Monday at the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA).

SAPA, San Fernando, one of the five locations for the second-dose rollout of this vaccine, saw people coming in from 8 am and following covid19 public health regulations. A tent erected in the car park held a handful of people waiting their turn.

Doodoo Kalloo, 76, of Marabella, told Newsday she got a phone call last week from an official at the South-West Regional Health Authority who told her to visit the site for the second dose. Kalloo hopes to visit her daughter, who lives in Germany. “My daughter wants me to visit her. As soon as the border is opened, I will go. I normally sleep on my left hand and I got the injection on my right hand,” Kalloo said. “I came here at 9 am, and by 10 am I got through. The people (staff) were really nice. They treated all of us good.”

La Romaine resident Lutchmin Gookool, 72, said her decision to take the vaccine came from the “man above,” meaning a supreme being. “I get my directions from him. I spoke to him in confidence this morning and he told me to take it. The Lord comes in whatever form devotees need him,” said Gookool, a Hindu. “The process was quick. I did not feel anything.

“I did not get any side effects when I took the first dose, and I am hoping for the same this time.”

An official who spoke on condition of anonymity said an estimated 600 people were expected to get their second dose on Monday, in blocks of an estimated 100 people per hour.  The administration of the second dose began on Monday and is expected to end on July 9.

It is for people who got their first dose from April 6 to May 10. The Health Ministry website recommends that there should be eight-12 weeks between the two doses. (See Page 5)

Regional health authorities are calling people to come in for their second dose. They must present an immunisation card and valid identification.

The other locations for the second dose rollout of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine are the National Racquet Centre in Tacarigua, Mayaro Sport Facility, the University of Trinidad and Tobago campus at Munroe Road, Chaguanas, and the Paddock at the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port of Spain.

Additional reporting by LAUREL WILLIAMS