Vaccines rolling out on Friday in north Trinidad

The rollout of the new covid19 vaccination system by alphabetical order of surname seemed to be working on Friday.

This was the second day of the new system.

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh varied it from the first-come-first-served method after chaos at vaccination sites across the country on Wednesday.

The lines were shorter, people were adhering to covid19 guidelines and the clusters were significantly smaller than the overcrowding seen at many sites on Wednesday.

The walk-in system was for people over 60 and those with non-communicable diseases. However, on Wednesday some people were under the impression that anyone could walk in for a first Sinopharm dose.

Newsday visited the Barataria, St Joseph and La Horquetta health centres and the National Racquet Centre, Tacarigua.

Those waiting were mostly seniors and people with non-communicable diseases making another attempt to get the first jab of the Sinopharm vaccine.

Although news of the 50-vaccine limit at each health centre had become public knowledge, 24 hours after it was introduced, people still turned up in their numbers in the hope of being in the first 50.

Regional health authorities have also begun administering the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine at all sites from 11 am on Friday, by appointment only. The gap between doses is shorter for Sinopharm than for the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Government workers were scheduled to get their first jab at the National Racquet Centre simultaneously with people coming for their second dose of AstraZeneca.