MINISTER of Health Terrence Deyalsingh says vaccination is a useful tool that can be used to prevent the overcrowding of health facilities and implored the public to take the covid19 vaccine to preserve Trinidad and Tobago's health resources.

He was responding to questions from reporters during a visit with the US Southern Command at a field hospital at the Jean Pierre Complex on Tuesday.

Deyalsingh said before the availability of vaccines, facilities like the hospital were at risk of being overwhelmed, citing the limited human resources needed to complete such centres.

Referring to concerns over the entry of the delta variant of the coronavirus to TT, Deyalsingh said he was optimistic that a vaccinated public would lower the risk of health facilities being overburdened.

"We have ammunition, and that is vaccination. If more and more people become vaccinated, you will not have a need for more and more physical capacity, and that is what every country in the world is battling with now: for you to not become a mortality statistic, an ICU statistic or to have severe disease.

"It's simple: be vaccinated, because you cannot replicate human resources needed to run more and more hospitals. The human resource is finite."

Deyalsingh also said in addition to doctors and nurses, radiographers, patient care escorts and laboratory staff were needed to equip and care for covid-positive patients.

Commander of the US Southern Command Admiral Craig Faller, who also went on the tour, said health security formed an important link in the overall security of any nation and was optimistic the field hospital would be a useful addition to this country's covid19 response.

Faller also added to Deyalsingh's point on the limited human and financial resources facing countries as a result of the pandemic.

The pandemic, he said, "has built a lot of trust (between countries), but it has also strained social systems, medical systems and budgets in every single country, including the US. Our forces have had to step up and support civil authority and civil support, manning vaccination stations. So that takes time, resources and money. So all our budgets are feeling the impact, and that impact can last years."

Faller also said the US South Command was committed to assisting countries in the region in their pandemic planning as well as responses to natural disasters and terrorist activities.