Tobago man: We take Panadol, Viagra – why not covid19 vaccine?

Tobagonians began receiving their second doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines on Monday from the Tobago Regional Health Authority (TRHA).

Mass vaccinations remain ongoing throughout the country with Sinopharm and AstraZeneca doses.

Newsday spoke to a number of fully vaccinated people at the Canaan and Scarborough Health Centres.

Dean Cipriani said he is convinced that taking the vaccine is the best thing to do.

“When I look at all the studies, it makes sense.

“I jumping on a plane and going all over the world – I’ve never seen the pilot, I don’t know how a plane flies.

"You’re seeing what’s happening all over the world and you’re looking at the bigger countries and how it was and how it's progressing – it's working, so you need to take it.”

He urged eligible people to register for the vaccine.

“Take the vaccine – plain and simple – it works. We take Panadol, we take Viagra, we take all kind of things – we don’t even know what they have in them. We’re seeing (how) this thing have out here, we’re seeing what it doing to people – it makes sense. All these fearmongering and things...sometimes if we read the proper information rather than listening to people – a lot of people just listening but they’re not actually going to read for themselves, and you get to understand that there’s nothing wrong here. I think it makes sense.”

Ayotinde Documu agreed that taking the vaccine was the best thing to do.

“I think it’s good for me. That’s my reason why I took the vaccine.”

He too urged everyone to sign up for the vaccine.

“I will encourage other persons to take the vaccine as well. It’s good for everybody, so I expect everybody to take the vaccine.”

His wife Mujena Documu shared similar sentiments.

“It’s the best thing we can do for ourselves, in the world as it is today, to have this vaccine to protect us, and I surely would encourage everybody else to take it.”

At a virtual news conference hosted by the THA Division of Health, Wellness and Family Development last Friday, general manager of Primary Care at the TRHA and co-ordinator of the Tobago covid19 vaccine rollout Dr Roxanne Mitchell said the doses would be administered only by appointment.

“Only those who received vaccines from April 6-12, 2021, will receive a text confirmation, which will include the date, time and venue for the vaccine rollout.”

Mitchell also said appointments for the second Sinopharm dose have not yet started.

To date 5,997 people have been vaccinated in Tobago, with 5,997 receiving a first dose and 111 receiving a second.

In its latest update, the division said the island currently has 155 active covid19 cases, having recorded three new cases. There are 32 patients in state isolation, 115 in home isolation, three in the ICU and five at the step-down facility. There have been 17 discharges. Covid19 deaths remained at 16.

The number of samples submitted to the Tobago Regional Health Authority, the Caribbean Public Health Agency and other local testing sites is 6,591. So far, 589 samples have tested positive.