May 8, 2021

Deyalsingh Condemns Opposition’s “Baseless” Claims About Sinopharm Vaccine

By Newsroom

Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh has condemned what he refers to as the Opposition UNC’s attempts to derail government’s vaccination efforts, by spreading falsehoods about the safety of China’s  Sinopharm Beijing COVID-19. vaccine.

Following confirmation that Trinidad and Tobago was to receive 100,000 doses of the Chinese vaccine as the World Health Organization approved the drug for emergency use on Friday, Opposition MP Roodal Moonilal said citizens were being used as guinea pigs.

“The fact is the COVID-19 Sinopharm Beijing vaccine has undergone a rigorous World Health Organization (WHO) vaccine assessment, which included on-site inspections of the production facility prior to the WHO official approval of the Sinopharm Beijing vaccine for the Emergency Use Listing Procedure (EUL) on May 7th,” the Health Minister said.

He pointed out that the WHO Assessment is the same review process used for Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson and Johnson and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, which all currently have EUL approval. The fact is MP Moonilal also received the same AstraZeneca vaccine which has EUL approval.

“The Sinopharm Beijing vaccine has been authorized for use in 45 countries/jurisdictions and over 65 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine have been administered through various emergency use programs,” he outlined.

Minister Deyalsingh sought to ignite public confidence in the WHO approved vaccine, which has an efficacy of 78.1% for all age groups 18 years and over.

“All vaccines procured on behalf of the people of Trinidad and Tobago are selected based on the robust standards of the WHO and absolutely no COVID-19 vaccine will be administered without WHO approval.   To date, all COVID-19 vaccines administered in Trinidad and Tobago have received Emergency Use License (EUL) under the WHO,” he assured.

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