CEO of the Eastern Regional Health Authority (ERHA) Ronald Tsoi-a-Fatt says people who have been vaccinated against the covid19 virus have been returning to vaccine sites to get their cards stamped.
This follows a call by chief medical officer Dr Roshan Parasram to ensure vaccination cards are stamped and signed.
During the Health Ministry's virtual press conference on Monday morning, a reporter told Parasram there have been instances where people were sent home with unstamped vaccination cards. The reporter asked if the cards were valid without this.
Parasram said, "If you had shots at the same venue, return and ask them to place their stamp on the card."
He said an unstamped card "will prove that you do have the vaccines, but legitimacy and validation of any official documentation usually accompany a stamp and a signature, so those things have to be there for it to be nationally or even internationally utilised."
On Tuesday morning, Tsoi-a-Fatt told Newsday people had already begun returning to vaccination sites within the ERHA in light of this.
He said only some vaccination sites had been stamping these cards before, as, "The normal procedure is that those loose vaccination cards are usually just filled out.
"But what happens is when you go and take that card to the office of the County Medical Officer of Health and you get your international vaccination cards – that is a card that's filled out and stamped and signed.
"But if it gives comfort in the meantime, these cards that are being given out will be stamped."
He said stamping these cards is "not a standard thing" and "not normal, especially at the mass vaccination centre in Tacarigua."
He could not say how many people returned to the sites on Tuesday.
CEO of the North Central Regional Health Authority (NCRHA) Davlin Thomas told Newsday vaccination cards were "already being stamped routinely" at all vaccination sites within that authority.
Newsday's calls to officials from the North West Regional Health Authority (NWRHA) went unanswered.
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