Trinidad ends 18 and under COVID vaccine booster programme due to low take-up

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The Trinidad and Tobago government Wednesday said it was forced to end its COVID-19 booster programme for people between the ages of 12 to 18 because they failed to make use of thousands of doses of a vaccine supplied by the United States that expired last month.

Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh, speaking at the weekly news conference of the Ministry of Health, said when the 75,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine had been received in February “I urged the population, I begged, I implored, all of us went out of our way to tell people these doses are going to expire on June 30.

He said while some people took advantage of the rollout of the vaccines, “some didn't. So it is difficult to go out and procure vaccines now in a stream that is no longer available to us because we did not demonstrate…the appetite to show that we can use these vaccines.

“We will continue to look and see if we could get (Pfizer) supplies, but I did urge, I did ask, I did advise the population that these are going to expire on June 30, so take advantage of.”

The health minister noted that other vaccines are available for other groups.

“People have chosen to delay so the 12-18 booster programme cannot continue at this time. But, the 18 and over, we do have J&J (Johnson and Johnson) and Sinopharm which are perfectly safe to be boosted with.”

Deyalsingh told reporters that the ongoing booster programme for all ages “needs a boost” and that to date, 166,895 persons have received shots.

“And at this point in time, I really want to make a plea to those who have been vaccinated to get boosted because the protection you get from vaccination or from any other source, is going to wane over time,” he said.

The health minister argued that getting vaccinated or boosted would assist the health authorities deal with other issues and not have to respond in the manner as they had been doing during the start of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

“So, it's a very simple message this morning, our booster programme needs a boost from you the members of the public going out there to be boosted,” he said, reiterating that the country's vaccination numbers continue to be very low with just 56 first doses administered on Tuesday, while the total doses, made up of first and second doses as well as boosters, were 121.

“We have now vaccinated completely 715,015 persons, so we're still stuck at 51.1 per cent of the population. So, if you're not vaccinated, get vaccinated. Get that immunity that you require. And if you're vaccinated, your protection is going to wane over time,” Deyalsingh said.

Trinidad and Tobago last weekend removed the compulsory wearing of masks that had been used as a measure to prevent the spread of the virus that has so far killed 4,039 and infected 169,201 others since the first case was detected in March 2020.

The health authorities have urged people to continue adopting the measures, including social distancing and washing of hands.

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