DR AMERY BROWNE, Minister of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, said TT will receive 200,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine from China next week.

He was speaking on Friday in the Senate on the Mid Year Review.

"Two hundred thousand from Sinopharm are due very early next week."

A shipment was originally scheduled to arrive on June 10, according to a statement by the Prime minister at a media conference on June 5.

When China donated an initial 100,000 doses as a gift to TT on May 19, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh had vowed to buy more.

On Friday Browne also said, "By the end of today, and I say that specifically, we would have had over 250,000 doses of covid19 vaccines in our country. This is an ongoing and aggressive acquisition effort, involving many persons both in TT and outside of TT."

Browne said that of this amount, some 130,000 doses had already been injected into recipients.

"We've got 100,000 doses from China, 40,000 doses from India, 2,000 from Barbados, 16,000 from St Vincent and the Grenadines, 9,000 from Bermuda, 10,000 from Grenada."

[caption id="attachment_894063" align="alignnone" width="730"] China's Sinopharm vaccine currently being administered in Trinidad and Tobago as part of the covid19 vaccine drive. - Photo by Lincoln Holder[/caption]

He said TT had so far received about 100,000 doses bought from Covax.

"The majority of doses so far have been acquired free of charge, so it's not reflected on the public purse."

While these doses were not any cost in the Mid Year Review, he said that document reflected the cost of his ministry's staff and missions plus regional health authorities and health staff to respectively acquire and administer the vaccines.

"Eight hundred thousand one-dose Johnson & Johnson (doses) are scheduled and anticipated to arrive in August, but guess what? There is work going on right now led by the Prime Minister of TT to seek to advance the arrival of those doses."

These were due from the Africa Medical Supplies Platform.

"We are working hard to set up a meeting between the President of South Africa and the Prime Minister of TT to bring that arrival date to as soon as possible."

Browne said TT was working closely with several Caricom countries which had bought AstraZeneca vaccines through Covax but which were now seeing vaccine hesitancy among their populations.

"But guess what? We have a different profile here. We have a high vaccine acceptance. The need is here. We will not waste a single dose.

"There is an Air Guard aircraft in the air right now doing some collections from our generous neighbours. We are working with our neighbours and that's what diplomacy is about, to ensure that within the region, nothing is wasted and Caricom citizens can be made as safe as possible.

"So there are more vaccines coming in than even have been listed."

Browne said vaccines would also come from sources such as the US Global Programme, after talks bet