The Health Ministry is currently using 28,000 vaccines to combat the deadly H1N1 flu virus and a further 7,500 doses are expected to arrive in the country on Monday from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO).
But as the Government moves to put measures in place to reduce the deadly virus the country recorded its fifth H1N1 death yesterday when a 68-year-old man passed away around 9.30 am at the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of the Sangre Grande District Hospital.
Health Minister Terrance Deyalsingh, who held a media conference yesterday, said the man had fallen into one of the at-risk groups as he had a 20-year history of smoking.
The minister said to date there have been 46 confirmed cases of the virus and five deaths resulting from HINI, also known as Swine Flu.
At the briefing held at the ministry's office, Park Street, Port-of-Spain yesterday the minister said the vaccines would only last by the end of June this year.
Giving a history of how vaccines were ordered, the minister said in 2009 this country ordered 140,000 influenza vaccines but 77.67 per cent had to be dumped due to expiration.
“So in any given year we would have between 15,000 to 20,000 doses but we would had to dump about half of that. So based on the historical data the ministry of health in January 2015 would have made a decision, a sound decision, based on the usage and wastage of 50 per cent, to order for 2015 15,000 adult doses and 5,000 paediatric doses.
“But over the years the utilisation went up by 50 per cent. So for this flu season the ministry would have used three times the amount of vaccines historically used in T&T,” Deyalsingh said.
Assuring there was no vaccine shortage, Deyalsingh said, normally the lifespan of a vaccine was relatively short, not lasting more than 12 months, coupled with the fact that analyses of a new strain of the virus had to be regularly conducted.
“The country may not have vaccines between the months of June to October of this year. The vaccine manufacturers manufacture vaccines retrospectively....they are always waiting for the new virus to appear on the scene, take into consideration what genetic changes have taken place in the virus from year to year.
“The H1N1 variant that would be in circulation now is going to be different to the H1N1 variant in October 2016 to May 2017. So the vaccine that is working now will not work next year,” Deyalsingh said.
The minister said the vaccines this country would be receiving were coming in with an expiry date of June 2016 as the makers were not making beyond that specific time frame.
“So it is not that T&T or the ministry has been negligent...that is just now this works as it is a balancing act every year. The manufactures would have to wait to see how the genetic material shifts or changes from year to year and then develop a vaccine for that specific virus,” Deyalsingh said.
The minister said while the protocol for public health centres would be to have the vaccine administered to at risk groups including pregnant women, children between two and five and the elderly over 65, anyone, however, could access the vaccine through private doctors.
He said via the public health system healthy non-risk people were not vaccinated as this was not the policy.
Asked about the cost of a vaccine Deyalsingh, “I don't know and I do not care because you cannot put a dollar value on saving a life. Whatever the cost to bring in the vaccines the money would be spent”
Regarding the refusal of some health workers who in last October had refused to take the vaccine, Deyalsingh assured that the situation has been rectified as the majority of workers were vaccinated.
Regarding mosquito borne diseases including Zika, Deyalsingh urged members of the public play their part by keeping their surroundings clean.
But the ministry would be putting in place measures to limit the possibly of the virus via port management and surveillance.
“We are reinstituting that all ship captains bringing in goods like tyres...because we know that Zika is in Brazil...we are now insisting on certificates of disinsection so we are making sure that insects are not in those goods coming in T&T,” Deyalsingh said.