The Health Ministry has begun preparations for storage and distribution of a Covid-19 vaccine, with hopes of beginning the process of administering shortly after the vaccine is approved.

At Wednesday’s Covid-19 briefing, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh says of the two vaccines which emerged over the past week, the Moderna vaccine is of interest to Trinidad and Tobago, given it is part of the COVAX program, of which this country is a member.

He also highlighted other reasons the Moderna vaccine was more in tune with T&T’s needs.

“The advantage is the Moderna vaccine can be stored at much higher temperatures than the Pfizer. The Pfizer can be stored at -70 degrees Celsius to -80 degrees Celsius.

“But the Moderna vaccine can be stored at -20 degrees Celsius for up to six months. So logistically, that is a huge improvement.”

Deyalsingh said that as the Ministry works out the logistics of vaccine administration, the main distribution and storage hub will likely be at the Couva hospital, with another hub to be placed in Tobago. 

“We are going to have to build separate walk-in chillers, and order ultra-cold chain freezers to store the vaccines. We will order five, eight or ten. We will make that final decision this week,” he said.