Government will be rolling out another COVID-19 vaccination programme from the first week of the new year.
That’s according to Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh.
Speaking to the media during a visit to the Port-of-Spain General Hospital yesterday to congratulate mothers of Christmas Day babies, Deyalsingh said a recent surge in COVID-19 cases in China, as well as reported increases in COVID-19-related hospitalisations in the United States among its older population, is a cause for concern.
He said these latest developments internationally, could threaten the progress made in TT.
Deyalsingh said: “We have to be cognizant now that the world has gone past lockdowns and travel restrictions unless something dramatic happens, so our defence has to be vaccination. We can’t rely on lockdowns, we can’t rely on travel restrictions as a form of protection, we have to rely on vaccination, especially for our vulnerable groups.”
In a bid to safeguard the public and in particular the elderly, he said: “We are starting a renewal of our booster programme starting on Friday, January 6, and every weekend throughout the malls across the country where we will be encouraging people, especially the elderly. What you are seeing around the world is the elderly now being most affected either because they have not been vaccinated, or if they have been vaccinated, they have not been boosted and their immunity is waning.”
“We want to make sure that with Carnival, with people coming in, that we protect our elderly, our immunocompromised and we are encouraging them, if they have not been vaccinated, to get vaccinated, if they have been vaccinated and boosted to get boosted, so we are starting that drive.”
The Health Minister pointed out that five influenza-related deaths had been reported so far and that focus will again be shifted to ensuring the most vulnerable in society were inoculated.
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