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This is the first lot of Moderna Covid-19 vaccines received by the country.

Moderna would be the fourth vaccine to be used in Vanuatu, apart from AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and the single-shot Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccines.

“We are grateful to the COVAX Facility for this generous donation of the Moderna vaccines” Minister of Health Bruno Leingkone said. “This will greatly support the ongoing rollout of Vanuatu’s Covid-19 vaccination campaign and help us to reach the national target”.

The doses were the first batch of the vaccine that was ordered by the Government through the COVAX facility.

The vaccine arrived in April and the vaccination roll out began on 2 June.

The Government has ordered over 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that will be arriving in batches due to a high global demand.

The Ministry of Health said it is committed to ensure all AstraZeneca vaccine doses are used before the expiry date of 31 August.

The vaccines arrived in Port Vila from Brisbane last night.

Prime Minister Bob Loughman Weibur and other guests were present to receive the vaccines.

Frontline workers will be the first group to receive their doze of the COVID-19 vaccine when the vaccination programme rolls out which is targeted to commence next month.

Director Public Health Len Tarivonda said frontline workers are border workers, quarantine facility staff, public transport workers, people aged 55 and above.

Another priority group is people aged 35 and above with medical conditions.