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HEALTH Minister Terrence Deyalsingh has reiterated that one challenge concerning covid19 vaccination drives at elderly homes is receiving “informed consent from a child or guardian.”
He was responding to questions by Naparima MP Rodney Charles in Parliament on Friday.
Recently, epidemiologist Dr Avery Hinds said elderly care homes and spread in homes are still the main sources of the rise in cases of covid19.
Referencing this, Charles asked why patients at “several old aged homes in Naparima have not yet been vaccinated.
Deyalsingh said that as of July 10, 1,143 patients of such homes had been vaccinated.
And within the South West Regional Health Authority (SWRHA), under which Naparima falls, he said 208 residents and 80 staff members were vaccinated.
But he said that at the start of the vaccination drive, five such homes within Naparima had been under quarantine.
“They are now being cleared and once they have been cleared, they will be vaccinated.
“Three are now under quarantine so they can’t be vaccinated.”
Deyalsingh said the Health Ministry is willing to work with Charles to vaccinate more people within Naparima.
Charles said he knew of people whose guardians or children gave consent but had not yet been vaccinated.
Deyalsingh said, “If the honourable member has that information, let us work hand in hand across this aisle. We don’t need to be combatting. If you have the information, don’t sit on it. Give it to us and I will be more than happy to send in a mobile vaccination team to vaccinate these precious individuals.”
Charles then said the St Vincent De Paul’s Home for the Aged and the JC MacDonald Home for the Aged were two such homes.
He then asked Deyalsingh to give a date on which residents at these two homes will be vaccinated. Deyalsingh said, “My colleague is sitting next to a medical doctor. The medical doctor will tell you if a home has covid19-positive patients, those patients cannot be vaccinated for three months after.
“Seek advice before embarrassing yourself in the public domain.” He said there was no need for “UNC tantrums.”
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