Key Points From the Ministry of Health’s Virtual Media Conference – Saturday 17th October 2020

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  • Minister of Health, Terrence Deyalsingh, urged the public to get the flu vaccine, he stated that the vaccine is free, safe and could possibly save lives. The Minister emphasized that the vaccine is especially important for certain groups in the population namely; young children, immunocompromised people, asthmatics and pregnant mothers.
  • Minister Deyalsingh addressed the issue of Covid-19 vaccines and stated that currently there is no regulatory approved vaccine. The Minister reminded the public that T&T has signed on to Covax, which pools resources and invests into a portfolio of promising vaccine candidates and they are currently dealing with 10-15 vaccine manufacturers.
  •  The Health Minister indicated that any country regardless of size or income status will have equal status to vaccines for 20% of their population once it has been formulated & is effective which means that in the first instance, T&T will receive 280,000 vaccines.
  • Technical Director of Epidemiology at the Ministry of Health, Dr. Avery Hinds stated that based on the recent data collected, there has been a steady decrease in new Covid-19 cases and it would appear that the virus is plateauing. Dr. Hinds attributed this to the population’s adherence to Covid-19 restrictions and guidelines and urged citizens to continue to do so.
  • Minister Deyalsingh indicated that the Government is currently repatriating a couple hundred stranded nationals every 10 days.
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