Trinidad and Tobago received 108,700 doses of single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine

Trinidad and Tobago on Friday received 108,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine. The procurement of vaccines was made available through African Union.

Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Dr Amery Browne received the vaccines at the Piarco International Airport in the afternoon. The doses arrived on an Amerijet aircraft.

The Johnson and Johnson vaccines were expected to reach Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday; however, due to a delay in the flight, the doses reach a day later.

Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley had declared in June 2021 that Trinidad and Tobago ordered additional 800,000 doses of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine from the African Medical Supplies Platform (AMSP) to stimulate the national immunization drive.

Earlier to the arrival of 108,700 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the African Union had assisted Trinidad and Tobago with only 20 doses for Olympic Athletes ahead of the Tokyo 2020.

The Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccines are "one-shot" vaccines, which means that, unlike other vaccines, this does not require a second dose. Less than two weeks ago, the country received over 305,370 doses of Pfizer vaccine from the United States of America. The government has decided that after consultations, children over the age of 12 will be immunized using the Pfizer vaccine. There are more than 92,658 secondary school students in-country who also need to be protected against coronavirus as the country reopens educational institutes.

Trinidad and Tobago have successfully vaccinated 355 822 people with dual doses of coronavirus vaccines, while over 472,946 people have received the first shot.

Besides this, Trinidad and Tobago is also expecting to receive 82,000 doses of Oxford Astrazeneca coronavirus vaccines from Canada.

So far, the country has recorded 42,839 coronavirus related cases with 1,215 virus-related deaths. There are still 5,728 active cases, while 323 patients are hospitalized due to the viral disease.