Trinidad and Tobago has administered nearly 65 per cent of the vaccines that have been made available to the country.
Based on the latest vaccine data provided by the Ministry of Health on Friday afternoon, the Ministry of Health has distributed 92,245 shots of the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, encompassing both first and second doses, and 32,536 shots of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine.
T&T administered the first dose of a World Health Organization (WHO)-approved COVID-19 vaccine on February 17, 2021.
The first round of inoculations came from a 2,000-dose donation of AstraZeneca vaccines from the Government of Barbados.
These doses were initially donated to Barbados by the Government of India.
The second round of vaccinates arrived from the much-anticipated COVAX Facility, a global effort between the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), and the WHO.
On March 30, 2021, 33,600 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, manufactured by SK Bioscience of South Korea, arrived at Piarco International Airport. This was the first of three shipments, with the second arriving on May 12 with 33,600 doses.
The Government of India donated 40,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca, which arrived in T&T on April 13.
In May 2021, in addition to the 33,600 vaccinates from COVAX’s second shipment, T&T received 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine from the Government of China and 35,000 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine due to donations from the Governments of Bermuda, Grenada, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
By the end of May, the country had received 244,200 doses of a WHO-approved COVID-19 vaccine in hand, 144,200 of which were Oxford/AstraZeneca and 100,000 were Sinopharm.
What’s left and what’s to come?
As of June 11, 2021, T&T has 32,536 doses of the Sinopharm doses remaining, accounting for 33 per cent of the total doses received in the country.
On June 6, health officials said T&T could expect a “significant amount” of Sinopharm doses in the coming weeks, as this vaccine is a two-shot dosage.
Similarly, T&T has 36 per cent of the 144,200 Oxford/AstraZeneca remaining, meaning the country has 51,955 doses left to administer. As of June 11, T&T has vaccinated 82,749 people with the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, with 9,496 people already receiving both doses.
This means 73,253 people are awaiting their second shot. The country is still awaiting the third shipment from COVAX, which should supply 33,400 doses of the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine.
Through an order with the African Medical Supplies Union, T&T is expected to receive the first tranche of 800,000 single-dose Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccines in August 2021.
The United States Government has allocated 80 million doses to the global fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventy-five per cent of these vaccines, which will be a combination of Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson, will go to COVAX to be delivered equitably.
The United States will make the final selection of where the vaccines will go.
Still, six million doses will go to Latin America and the Caribbean, according to a statement from the Embassy’s Chargé d’ Affaires, Shante Moore.
Over the last few days, the United States pledged an additional 500 million doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines, with 200 million distributed in 2021 and 300 million allocated in 2022.
These doses will be distributed through COVAX and given to 92 low- and middle-income countries and the African Union.
Additionally, the United Kingdom pledged 100 million surplus coronavirus vaccine doses to the world within the next year, with 80 per cent going to COVAX.
However, it is not clear how many of these newly pledged donations T&T will receive in the coming months.
