THE promised shipment of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine from China are on schedule to arrive in Trinidad and Tobago.

Chinese Ambassador Fang Qui gave this assurance on Tuesday.

In a tweet, Qiu said, "Tonight, 100,000 doses of China’s vaccines gifted to TT will arrive in Port of Spain. This is the fulfilment of President Xi’s 'global public good' promise. Also, it is another testament to the solidarity and partnership between our two countries and two people."

At the Health Ministry's virtual news conference on Monday, Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh also said the Sinopharm doses would arrive on Tuesday as scheduled. He reiterated his praise for the Prime Minister's communication with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi which led to the donations of 100,000 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and 40,000 doses of the AstraZenca vaccine to Trinidad and Tobago from China and India respectlvely.

Deyalsingh also said the Government is working to secure commercial sales agreements with Sinopharm and Pfizer to buy covid19 vaccines.

Reiterating that Government had signed a non-disclosure agreement with Sinopharm last August, Deyalsingh said people criticising the Government over this will not say that Government has signed a similar agreement with Pfizer. He also reiterated that at this time, no vaccine manufacturer is speaking to any private-sector entity about acquiring covid19 vaccines.

Deyalsingh said on April 29, Government received a heads of terms of agreement from Pfizer, and this will be a precursor to a commercial sales agreement, detailing quantity and price of doses of its vaccine for TT. He explained the same process is happening with respect to Sinopharm.

But he warned, "There are those who wish to derail the vaccine programme."

He cautioned people against saying anything in public that could stymie efforts to acquire vaccines from Sinopharm and Pfizer.

On May 9, Dr Rowley supported Deyalsingh in condemning Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal, who claimed the population was being used as "guinea pigs" for the Sinopharm vaccine and its efficacy was unknown.

Rowley said Moonilal "had chronicled all the negatives that he could find on the Chinese vaccine." He added, "Apparently he could not find the hundreds of similar issues raised on AstraZeneca and the other vaccines. That is what happens when you are intellectually dishonest."

In a statement on May 8, Deyalsingh said, "The fact is the covid19 Sinopharm Beijing vaccine has undergone a rigorous 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 EUL (emergency use licence) on May 7, 2021." Deyalsingh said the Sinopharm Beijing vaccine has been authorised for use in 45 countries/jurisdictions and over 65 million doses have been administered through various emergency use programmes.

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