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Government to push harder to vaccinate 600,000 more people - Trinidad and Tobago Newsday

Government will continue to do its part in informing the public and encouraging them to take the vaccine although it has come to a crawl with 600,000 people yet to take the jab.

Dr Rowley made the remarks during his address at a media conference at the Diplomatic Centre, St Ann's, on Saturday in which he highlighted the seriousness of increasing covid19 cases together with limited capacities and resources to treat patients.

Responding to questions on what else could be done to increase the number of vaccinations, Rowley said the government will continue to try "different things," adding that the public information campaign will still be available.

He noted that while the government and health agencies could only provide legitimate information on the nature of vaccines, some people's concerns were not grounded in science and was at a loss as to how he could convince them given the reasons for their scepticism.

"I don't know that I can help any further, the Minister of Health and his team the volume and concentration of advertisements, about the availability of the vaccine, the effect you have the nurses and doctors these are your people, you pay them."

According to the Ministry of Health's 4 pm update on Saturday, 631,871 people received their first dose of a two-dose vaccine, while 588,076 received their second dose and 38,576 received their only shot of a single-dose vaccine.

When asked whether the government would consider limiting access to government buildings and services to vaccinated people only, Rowley said all options were being considered at this time.

Principal Medical Officer of Health Dr Maryam Abdool-Richards, also speaking at Saturday's briefing, said the only thing preventing the healthcare system from being overwhelmed by rising cases is for more people to get vaccinated.

She said infected people were waiting too long to come to the hospitals and urged the public not to wait until they develop severe symptoms before seeking help.

"This morning on Saturday at 8 am 47 patients are waiting for transfers, 11 are at the ICU level, none of them were fully vaccinated. There are five children among the patients, three of whom are warded in the ICU.

"Forty-two of the 47 people who called the ambulance and came into the A&E were not fully vaccinated."

She added that while the government and different RHAs will continue to do their best to fill gaps in personnel and resources, the trajectory of cases if left to continue would overwhelm the system.

"Please Trinidad and Tobago we plateaued for 113 to 114 days, we have been updating the population, our team is trying our utmost best we cannot continue along this path.

"If we continue along this path despite adding ICU beds, ward level beds, increasing ambulances, increasing the proportion of ambulances we will soon run out of these resources.

For his part Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh noted that he has never seen or heard Abdool-Richards that anxious noting it was testament to the seriousness of the situation TT was

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