Clarification related to sourcing of COVID-19 vaccines for Trinidad and Tobago

The Ministry of Health takes serious note of statements being put into the public domain, which may lend itself to undue confusion in the population's mind as it relates to COVID-19 vaccine procurement and distribution.

Thursday, 25th February 2021

Port-of-Spain: The Ministry of Health takes serious note of statements being put into the public domain, which may lend itself to undue confusion in the population's mind as it relates to COVID-19 vaccine procurement and distribution. For the record, the following facts on this matter are provided by the Ministry of Health for the public's consumption.

COVAX Facility The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) deals with member states and not third parties, intermediaries, or agents, as is being erroneously stated. Vaccines from PAHO have always been consigned to the Ministry of Health (MOH) / NIPDEC, and the same applies for the AstraZeneca vaccine. This vaccine is being supplied via the COVAX facility using the PAHO revolving fund as a procurement facility has been the practice for over forty (40) years. African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) Trinidad and Tobago has signed off on the purchase of COVI D-19 vaccines via the AMSP, which utilizes a similar purchasing and distribution philosophy to the COVAX facility. AMSP has made available to CARICOM states a block of 1.5 million doses of vaccines and has confirmed receipt of Trinidad and Tobago's pre-order for 226,000 doses. Similar to the COVAX facility, these vaccines are not consigned to any local distributor, as is also being erroneously said in the public domain. We urge the public to be wary of false information. The MOH takes this opportunity to reassure the national population that only World Health Organization (WHO) approved vaccines will be imported and administered to our local population, and this will be done equitably.