Covid19 shots at Ato Boldon Stadium fall below 600 a day

When the Ato Boldon Stadium opened its doors as a covid19 mass vaccination site on July 19, the site averaged more than 1,000 vaccinations a day.

But one of the stadium’s onsite doctors, Dr Nathaniel Anoop, said the site’s daily vaccination rate has steadily decreased.

When Newsday visited shortly before noon on Wednesday, work was at a standstill.

Anoop told Newsday, “When we started off, within the first week, each day we would have done approximately 1,000-1,500 vaccines each day.

“However, within the second week, the numbers started to die down a bit. Within the second week we were looking at between 500 and 1,000.

“With this being the third week of the drive, so far, we’ve seen the numbers die down a bit. Now we are looking between 300 to 600 vaccines being given a day…we expect it to continue like that for the rest of this week."

As the site prepares to give second doses next week, Anoop expects activity to increase.

“Once we start the second-dose phase from next week, which would be the fourth week of the drive, we expect the numbers to pick back up. All the people who came for their first dose will have to come back for their second dose.”

On Wednesday, Newsday also visited the Southern Academy for the Performing Arts (SAPA) mass vaccination site, where officials said most people were coming to get their second dose.

The Chaitam family from Penal were among just a handful of people getting their first dose of Sinopharm there. The family decided to get vaccinated together because they wanted to play their part in getting the country back to normal.

Another person coming to get their first dose told Newsday, “I didn’t want to meet up the rush of people (in earlier weeks) so I’m now coming. I just waited until things were cool to come.”

Workers from Family Mart Supermarket in Princes Town and Barrackpore had been given time off to get their second dose at SAPA. They told Newsday the process was smooth.