[Updated] PM takes blame for collapse of mass vaccination drive

The Prime Minister has apologised to the thousands of elderly and younger people with lifestyle diseases who were turned away when they responded to a call to come out and get vaccinated last Wednesday and Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health began offering walk-in vaccination for those over 60 and those younger with non-communicable diseases on a first come, first served basis.

Long lines and crowds ensued at vaccine sites across the country. People began to line up hours before the gates of the vaccine centres opened, some as early as 5 am breaching the curfew to get ahead in the line. But with a limited supply of vaccines, the majority were sent back home.

In response, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh changed it to an alphabetical system but the number of vaccines distributed to each centre would be limited to 50, far too little for the demand and again hundreds of people were turned away.

Speaking at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s on Saturday, Dr Rowley admitted that walk-in vaccination or mass vaccination was a “bad idea” and took responsibility for it as the head of the government.

He said it was not the fault of the technical staff of the facilities but a communication problem between the government and the wider population as many people were unable to register to get vaccinated.

“Wednesday was a bad day. It was a bad day in that the government, through its agency, through its Prime Minister, through its infrastructure, tried to do too much with too little. It was a bad idea to try to solve the problem of the registration programme not reaching everyone who wanted to be registered by simply removing that stricture of a registration and replacing it with  (what) one can call now a mass vaccination exercise.”

He “unreservedly apologised” especially to the elderly who “did in fact come out thinking they could put themselves through probably pain and certainly the inconvenience and disappointment of coming out and not being able to receive the vaccine.”

Rowley expected that, at no time in the near future, the country would receive a big enough batch of vaccines that would allow for mass vaccination programme. Instead, the country would have a steady stream and the government would have to manage distribution in segments.

On Friday, the country got an additional 13,500 AstraZeneca vaccines from Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines and, on Monday, expects a shipment of 200,000 out of the 500,000 Sinopharm vaccines purchased from China.

The government has yet to get word of the exact date the third shipment of vaccines from the Covax facility will arrive, or when and how much TT will receive from the expected donations from the US.

He promised the ministry would ensure a similar situation would not happen again and that the available vaccines would get to those most in need.

He added that no decision has been made on opening the borders and the timeline of reopening the country in the next three-five weeks remaining and said 19-hour curfew will likely be in place for Labour Day on June 19, as implemented recently.

In response, Opposition Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Rowley has been misleading the country with regard to vaccines for months at the cost of lives and livelihoods. She said the “sham rollout” was planting the seeds of civil unrest.

“Hundreds of thousands of people are without work, unable to provide food for their families, unable to pay bills, or unable to pay their rents. A virus of poverty is also sweeping our nation with no plan in place to resuscitate our economy. Rowley must accept help from stakeholders and make changes to his failed team. We cannot have a 1990 repeat.”

According to the release, the worst part was that Rowley did not intend to make changes to save lives including changing the medical experts advising the government over the last 15 months.

This story was originally published with the title "PM sorry for collapse of mass vaccination drive" and has been adjusted to include additional details. See original post below.

The Prime Minister apologised to the elderly and those who had a negative experience while trying to get vaccinated on Wednesday.

On Wednesday, the Ministry of Health began offering first come, first served walk-in vaccination for those over 60 and those younger with non-communicable diseases.

Long lines and crowds ensued at vaccine sites across the country. People began to line up hours before the gates of the vaccine centres opened and many people were turned away because they were ineligible or vaccines were limited.

The collapse of the vaccination programme was amended the following day to only 50 jabs, and again hundreds of people were again turned away.

Speaking at a press conference at the Diplomatic Centre in St Ann’s on Saturday, Dr Rowley admitted that walk-in vaccination or mass vaccination was a “bad idea” and took responsibility for it as the head of the government.

He said it was not the fault of the technical staff of the facilities but a communication problem between the government and the wider population.

“Wednesday was a bad day. It was a bad day in that the government, through its agency, through it’s Prime Minister, through it’s infrastructure, tried to do too much with too little. It was a bad idea to try to solve the problem of the registration programme not reaching everyone who wanted to be registered by simply removing that stricture of a registration and replacing it with one can call now, a mass vaccination exercise.”

He “unreservedly apologised,” especially to the elderly who “did in fact come out thinking they could put themselves through probably pain and certainly the inconvenience and disappointment of coming out and not being able to receive the vaccine.”

He promised the ministry would ensure a similar situation would not happen again.