In the Solomon Islands the Governor-General, His Excellency Sir David Vunagi, GCMG, received the AstraZeneca vaccine today at the Central Field Hospital.
Following the Governor General was the Speaker of National Parliament Patterson Oti, some of the judges and magistrates including the Ombudsman. Some of the COVID-19 frontliners, from the Ministry of health and fisheries, Ports Authority, and some from the Heritage Park Hotel also came in for their first vaccinations.
On the first day of vaccination, total of 220 people were vaccinated which included the Prime Minster, Ministers of the Crown, Permanent Secretaries, the COVID-19 oversight committee, the vaccine national coordinating committee and the technical working group members. This also includes some of the frontline workers from health, Royal Solomon Islands Police Force (RSIPF) and Solomon Airlines to name a few.
Meanwhile it has been reported that church leaders and other faith group representatives are currently undergoing awareness sessions relating to the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
The awareness sessions are being conducted by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMS), which included a visit to the Central Field Hospital.
The Health Promotion Director Adrian Leamana has highlighted that churches are a very influential institution in the country with the power to influence and shape public perception.
“As such, getting them on board to support the uptake of COVID-19 vaccine is very crucial in the current efforts of health to encourage the public to come forward to receive the vaccine once their turn comes,” Mr. Leamana said.
Around 30 participants attended the awareness, which was organized and facilitated by the Ministry of Health’s National Health Promotion Department in collaboration with the COVID-19 vaccine Technical Working Group.
The Health Technical Advisor Dr Yogesh Choudhri and Dr Simon Burggraaf from the World Health Organization (WHO) facilitated the presentation and discussion around the development of the COVID-19 vaccines.
Footnote.
According to the updated COVID-19 vaccination roll out plan following concerning increases of COVID-19 cases in neighbouring Bougainville, 7000 doses of the first batch of AstraZeneca will be administered in Honiara initially for priority groups such as front-liners, elderlies 55 years and above, those with underlying health conditions and the rest of the Honiara residents once more vaccines arrives.
17,000 doses will be deployed to Western, Choiseul and Malaita provinces for vaccination of the western border communities. This week the Ministry of Health is gearing up for deployment of relevant national staff to support provincial immunization teams to conduct vaccine awareness and training of vaccinators in these provinces before vaccination roll out for the borderline communities will commence.
COVID-19 vaccines that the government is and will be rolling out are those that are approved for emergency use by WHO and have passed all necessary safety and efficacy requirements making it safe to receive and is effective to prevent sickness, hospitalization and deaths from COVID-19.
During the awareness session for the church representatives, it was explained that the AstraZeneka vaccine has been listed by the WHO as safe and shown to be effective.
The Covid-19 awareness team is expected to be deployed to the western border to support provincial health promotion officers there. They will conduct community level awareness of the AstraZeneca vaccine to prepare communities for the planned vaccination program in the coming days and weeks.
Sources. MHMS Press Release and Solomon Times Online.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
