CMO urges parents: Vaccinate children for covid19 before school starts

Vaccination against covid19 among school-aged children remains low, although the reopening of schools is just weeks away.

At the Ministry of Health’s weekly covid19 media briefing on Wednesday, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Roshan Parasram urged parents and the wider population to be vaccinated.

He said, “When we look at the vaccination figures across the board, we have not seen any increase in vaccination uptake. It has remained extremely low. Even within that five-11 age group, we see that it has been very, very slow in terms of the number of people coming forward to vaccinate their children.”

Parasram said with schools coming back on stream there were still vaccines available for that age group, and parents should take the opportunity to vaccinate their children as it gives them extra protection against severe disease.

Schools re-open on September 5.

Trinidad and Tobago’s vaccination rate stands at 51.1 per cent. There are 715, 973 fully vaccinated people and 684, 027 have had only one dose or no doses.

The number of people who have received boosters stands at 167, 786, he said.

There were 221 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, with one death, he added.

Total active cases now stand at 6,988, of whom 228 are in hospital.