TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO will be the first Caribbean country to get vaccines for the influenza A/ H1N1 vaccine.

This, according to a source, is crucial for the Ministry of Health as they prepare medical services for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), scheduled to run from November 23 to 29.

The source explained that the Ministry is lobbying around the clock to acquire at least 50,000 doses of both adjuvanted and non-adjuvanted vaccines from the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) by next week.

In fact, as the Express understands, although the Ministry has not yet paid for the supply of vaccines, it is ready to ’put down an instalment’ for all the doses once negotiations with PAHO are completed.

With the recent outbreak of the second wave of the Influenza A/ H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu, member states of the Caribbean Community have joined the battle to eradicate this virus.

In fact, only last month, Caricom stated that the H1N1 flu vaccine which was produced and licensed by the United States Food and Drug administration is expected to provide immunisation for the Community’s most vulnerable groups with the first shipment expected by late November.

Trinidad and Tobago, however, has 210 confirmed laboratory cases of the virus and five deaths.

Initially, the ministry had called a media conference to discuss the latest updates on the influenza A/HINI virus yesterday, but according to a source, it had to be postponed because the negotiations had not been completed in time.

Attempts by the Express to get an official from the Ministry of Health to confirm this, however, proved futile. Instead, the ministry’s manager, Strategic Communications and Advisory Services, Kevin Garcia, issued a statement saying that a media conference would be held on Monday.