Fyzabad businessman Clint Arjoon who claimed a private company had imported Pfizer vaccines last month is now asking the government give the private sector the all clear to secure and import the vaccines.
Police said yesterday that an investigation into Arjoon’s claims that Pfizer vaccines had been brought into the country, found his claims were baseless.
Speaking to Guardian Media yesterday, Arjoon steered clear of the findings of the police investigation.
He added that many people in the country are waiting for the government to secure the Pfizer vaccine while those who could afford it have been going to the United States to get vaccinated.
Arjoon, owner of the Clint Arjoon Group of Companies, was thrown into spotlight after he made the claim on a television programme on Wednesday.
Interviewed at his home yesterday, Arjoon said his doctor had recommended that he take the Pfizer vaccine, but he doesn’t understand why the Government has not yet secured that vaccine.
“That Pfizer vaccine is something that we would like to get in Trinidad. I don’t think that the efforts by the government is 100 per cent because if you have private institutions bringing that vaccine in it means that there is some way and some means of way to get it in the country.”
He said that a Food and Drug official advised him that while it is not illegal to bring it into the country, it has to go through the correct challenges, a proper record of the batch numbers must be done and the vaccines are purchased from a reliable source.
“There is a lot of imitation vaccines out there and they want to ensure that does not enter the country,” he said.
If the government cannot secure the Pfizer vaccines, he suggested that the private sector be given the green light to import them.
“It will be beneficial to the government at the end of the day and beneficial to the entire country because those who want the vaccine will be able to acquire it and it is about saving lives. It is not about politics. It is not about anything else. It is not just about making money.”
However, Arjoon made it clear that he was not discouraging people from taking the Sinopharm vaccine currently available in the country.