Trinidad and Tobago will get a total of 140,000 doses of 2 different types of COVID-19 vaccines donated by India and China.

The government of India yesterday officially informed Port of Spain that thousands of doses of the World Health Organization-approved AstraZeneca vaccine would be sent to this country.

A statement issued by the office of the Prime Minister added that China has also offered thousands of another vaccine, Sinopharm, “to support and safeguard the health of the people of Trinidad and Tobago”.

In the Senate yesterday Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh confirmed the pending arrival of vaccines.

The announcement came 2 days after Foreign and CARICOM Affairs Minister Senator Dr. Amery Browne and Indian High Commissioner Arun Kumar Sahu agreed to work together on the vaccine issue.

That came out of a meeting on Monday, amid tensions between Sahu and Rowley over whether India’s vaccine facility was made available to CARICOM member states.

High Commissioner Sahu issued a statement the previous day, seeking to clarify the timeline of events surrounding the offer of the donations and his role in communicating it, after saying that he felt personally attacked by statements Prime Minister Rowley had made on the issue.

The High Commissioner had said although Trinidad and Tobago’s request for a vaccine donation may have been too late, efforts would still be made to assist.

However no time frame could be given for when that would happen.