Covid-19 vaccination

A total of 34,753 people have received at least one dose of the AstraZeneca or Sinopharm.

Director of Public Health, Len Tarivonda said 2716 people received two doses of Sinopharm and 6190 people have received two doses of AstraZeneca and are considered fully vaccinated.

There were 191 adverse effects following COVID-19 vaccination reported.

Most of the cases were mild to moderate side-effects.

According to Tarivonda, up until 29 August, there have been no serious side effects or deaths related to the vaccine product.

It comes amid concerns raised by the Health Ministry and the public at the rate of children dying from the virus in Fiji.

So far about 10 young people have succumbed to the Delta variant, with the latest victims a six-month-old boy and an 11-year-old girl among the dead reported last weekend.

Fiji's chief medical advisor Dr Jemesa Tudravu said vaccinating children would also be a crucial factor in deciding when schools reopen

Schools have been closed since April this year.

Premiership Rugby will be following the example set by the Football Association in not requiring players to be inoculated before returning to the field this September.

The league will continue to run a full LFT testing programme as per the 2020/21season.

A Premiership Rugby spokesperson said: “Our No 1 priority has always been the health and safety of everyone involved with Premiership Rugby – supporters, players, staff and management.

1, 687 people are recipients of the Sinopharm vaccine and 34 people are AstraZeneca recipients.

The total figure has increased and will be updated in the Ministry of Health’s (MoH) next situation update.

The total number of doses administered since the vaccination rollout launch until early this week stands at 31, 028.

According to the MoH, there have been no serious adverse events or deaths confirmed to be related to the COVID-19 vaccine product, quality defect or immunization error.

WHO Chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said a pause would allow for at least 10% of the population in every country to be vaccinated.

A number of nations including Israel and Germany have announced plans to administer a third dose.

But Dr Tedros has warned poorer nations are falling behind.

According to the WHO, low-income countries have only been able to administer 1.5 doses for every 100 people due to a lack of supply.

Dr Tedros said that there needs to be a reversal and that the majority of vaccines should go to lower income countries.

The staff include the Senior Management Team and Board of Directors.

At present AVL has not made it compulsory for staff to be vaccinated, although it intends to do so.

“Those who are yet to be vaccinated due to various reasons are currently restricted from working on the front-line. AVL supports the Vaccination Programme and encourages all residents of Vanuatu to be vaccinated, as vaccination becomes available to them through the Vaccine Rollout Programme,” AVL said.

The Vaccination Programme will be rolled out to Tanna and Santo in the next few months.

The vaccination was held at the Saupia Health Centre in Paunangisu village.

The Ministry of Health confirmed that 23 people were vaccinated on the first day of the campaign.

105 people reported in the second day, 132 on the third day, 288 last Friday.

Nearly 200 received theirs yesterday.

The vaccination target for north Efate and offshore islands is around 6,000.

The vaccination rollout at Paunangisu is scheduled for two weeks.

The ministry is appealing to adults to use the buses to go and get their Covid-19 vaccination.

Vanuatu now has about 44,000 doses of vaccines, 24,000 of AstraZeneca through the COVAX facility and 20,000 doses of Sinopharm from China.

So far 7,462 people have received the first dose of AstraZeneca - health and frontline workers, the elderly and those with underlying health conditions.

Meanwhile, the director of the National Disaster Management Office, Abraham Nasak, says there will be a temporary restriction on passengers travelling into Vanuatu.

Part of a series of ‘festival days’ – where the Pacific community is vaccinated together in a welcoming environment – today’s event was the first in the region to be held in a place of worship.

Capital & Coast DHB worked with Tū Ora Compass Health PHO and the church community on the event last week.

“It was wonderful to see so many of our older Pacific members there today, and we look forward to more events like this supporting better health outcomes for our vulnerable communities,” said Tū Ora Pacific Director of Health Henrietta Hunkin-Tagaloa.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Friday urged countries to supply more vaccines to the global fair-access scheme Covax.

The international distribution of Covid vaccines remains vastly uneven.

Since the first vaccines were approved in December, wealthier countries have bought up most of the supply.

Many are racing to vaccinate as much of their population as possible.