RHAs hold 'pop-up' covid19 vaccination drives across TT

Technical director of epidemiology Dr Avery Hinds said regional health authorities (RHAs) are continuing pop-up covid19 vaccination drives across Trinidad and Tobago.

During the Ministry of Health’s press conference on Tuesday, Hinds said the RHAs are rolling out additional outreach for communities with pop-up vaccination sites at community-centred locations, including community centres, schools and grocery car parks.

He said the pop-up vaccinations will be scheduled and announced by each RHA, and asked the public to look out for further announcements on their websites, adding the Eastern RHA has already published its schedule.

Hinds also urged the public to continue showing up for vaccinations to safeguard against the delta variant

“As we move forward, we have people travelling more frequently (and) we want to underscore the importance of vaccination.

“The more vaccinations we get into people ahead of any potential introduction of a new variant, the better off we will be.”

He said the delta variant is more transmissible than the variants which preceded it.

“The original virus may have affected two people for every index case. With this new variant it can be four to eight new cases from any one index case.”

He said in populations that aren’t well vaccinated, spikes in cases in large numbers have been observed as the virus moves its way through the unvaccinated population. “The most affected individuals are those who are not vaccinated.”

He said this data aligns with local observations in hospitals.

“In our local hospitalisations, we have mostly unvaccinated being hospitalised.”

He said a small population of hospitalised individuals has had one dose of the vaccine and there have not been any fatalities among the fully vaccinated or manyissues with serious illness, which he said is in line with international data that full vaccination helps to reduce risk.

Hinds also said while there had been a downward trend in covid19 numbers from May into June, the rolling average has gone up slightly throughout the month of July. He said the upward trend was not steep, but notable.

He urged the public to stay vigilant, especially as there is more movement with the borders reopened.

He said the majority of cases continue to be within the 25-49 age group and the majority of fatalities continue to occur in those over 60, many of whom had comorbidities.

“Those with comorbidities need to be extra vigilant in seeking out the vaccine,” he said.

Hinds also said the public should stick to the return dates given by the health authorities for their second dose.

He said the scheduling of the second dose of the Sinopharm vaccine is 21-28 days. Receiving the vaccine sooner than that, he said, will not do well with the efficacy of boosting the immune response to the vaccine. “When (health authorities) give a timing, it is best to stick to that timing.”

Hinds said as of Saturday there were 16,000 second doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine available and 636,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine in hand.