Serving T&T in the Pandemic
Last Friday, driving home from Divali Nagar after volunteering at the mass vaccination site in the softest sunset, I thought of how COVID-19 has peeled off superficial skin to reveal the soul of the Trini. We fall, we get back up, we fall, we get back up.
All day long, they lined up, security officers, in orderly queues, men and women creating greater social distance when asked, waiting patiently when there was a hiccup with getting vaccination cards from the Health Ministry, washing hands, sanitising, lining up, waiting in another area, lining up again, getting vaccinated, waiting again, filing out, mostly silent.
I asked some of them why they came. Despite being afraid of the vaccine, of the conspiracy theories, they saw the deaths climbing and didn’t want to be a statistic.
Some came for the vaccine trembling before and after with fear, but arrived anyway, astonished at how relieved they felt afterwards.
Our Trinis, yes. You can say what you like about us but put in a coup attempt, or COVID-19, we have a solid inner compass of what’s correct, not just for them but for our country.
It ought to have been grim, the silence, the masks, the vaccines.
But when Dr Vishi Beharry, President of the T&T Medical Association (T&TMA), informed a representative of the Association of Security Companies of T&T (AS- COTT) that almost 2,000 people had been vaccinated entirely by volunteers, the mood was elation.
To do this, the T&TMA led by Dr Beharry partnered with volunteers from SEWA, an NGO of volunteers dedicated to the service of socially vulnerable people.
This was the seventh Dr Beharry/T&TMA/SEWA-led mass vaccination drive in 12 days, vaccinating more than 15,000 people, including TTMA, Construction, Nestles, Bankers’ Association and blood donors.
It was also a minor miracle for ASCOTT to put together a master list of people from 43 companies in six days after the Government offered them 5,000 vaccinations for the security industry.
But this is what the private sector does best. Efficiency.
Then a week back, that little government notice—legal Notice No 179 of 2021—altering the laws allowing pharmacists, vets, nurses, interns, dentists, and paramedics to administer the jab in addition to doctors changed everything.
It was as if people are being directed by something much bigger than themselves.
Dr Beharry had been vaccinating for two consecutive days, all day, and should have been dropping with exhaustion when he took my call at 10 pm to ask how he’s doing this.
Dr Beharry, president of the T&TMA: “In February, the T&TMA sent the Ministry of Health a mass vaccination proposal, walk-ins and drive through at the Divali Nagar site, ideal for a flow of people in and out safely and quickly.
Our partner NGO SEWA TT has been using for decades for blood drives.
“So when the Minister of Health recently asked T&TMA to partner with the RHAs in mass vaccination government sites, we took it as an opportunity to serve our country in a pandemic to ensure the vulnerable aren’t further pushed towards poverty.
“Today (Friday) we vaccinated close to 2,000 security officers using 195 volunteers.
“These included a rotation of 80 healthcare professionals, including interns, medical students, vets, nurses, doctors, in screening, vaccinating, observation and emergency, stations, 80-90 volunteers from SEWA, and 30 volunteers from security companies for registration and ushering.
“From medical students to interns to GPs to specialists, to consultants to professors of medicine, healthcare professionals’ response in all categories has been fantastic...overwhelming. You call for help and there is no concern where, who or how many jabs we need to give. They ask one question.
‘What time do you need me? And respond with, ‘I’m coming now.’ The flow of people is critical in any mass vaccination site, which is why we had 10 tables in screening, 10 in vaccination.
We broke our own record in one day, vaccinating 1,500 people in six hours and 20 minutes. The vaccines were there, there were enough consumables, minimal no shows, enough volunteers, and it fell into place.
“The checks and balances of health, safety, and releasing correct official vaccination cards is paramount to us with checks at five stations. We are careful not to vaccinate pregnant women, or those with symptoms of COVID-19.
“Today, (Friday) we were able to fill the observation room in 20 minutes which holds 125 people in 20 minutes with a skeleton staff. With paperwork being handled in different stations our medical volunteers have turned into professional vaccinators mastering the art of pulling up a vaccine out of a vial, administering it, and signing the card with the date and time, taking a minute and a half per person per vaccine. Regarding the current infection and death cases, I can’t say there is a downward trend unless consecutive days of cases and deaths are declining.
“No amount of vaccination will stop the spread in two or three weeks. Even if we get 800,000 vaccines tomorrow, we will spike as it will take time to vaccinate. Only COVID-19 protocols will save us. I don’t see private hospitals taking in COVID positive patients as it’s too risky, but I’m positive if, God forbid, the need arises, they will, as they have in India, step in and serve too. My vision is drive-through vaccinations on weekends and evenings enabling people to get vaccinated in their thousands. That, and giving registered sentinel physicians (who administer tetanus, flu, yellow fever shots) vaccines to administer in their practices at no cost. Vaccinating in health centres is counterproductive as it uses resources necessary to ongoing healthcare needs.”
Dr Vishi Beharry, President of the T&TMA, I have to declare, is a Pandemic Hero. My last thought before I slept on Friday was the words of the young volunteers from SEWA TT who called on every citizen to serve in every way they could, by following COVID-19 protocols, vaccinating, and volunteering to help fend off wave upon wave of this pandemic before it becomes a tsunami.
But the soul of the Trini (and Tobagonian) already knows this.