About 80 per cent of villagers on Lakeba, Lau are expected to receive their first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 jabs this week.
District representative Uwate Soko said the mass vaccination program was launched at the chiefly village of Tubou last Tuesday whereby clan leaders, church pastors and village elders received their jabs.
“Villagers of Tubou and Levuka also got their jabs on Tuesday and health officials moved to other villages in the district in the past few days,” he said.
“We have had 767 individuals above the age of 18 who have registered to be vaccinated and we are glad that everything has rolled out well since its inception.
“There are some villagers who have opted not to be vaccinated and we respect their decisions but the awareness continues on the island on the importance of getting the jab.”
Mr Soko said some villagers were licensed fishermen while others run their small businesses and getting the jab was a vital component of ensuring they maintained those licences as pointed out in the national budget announcement.
He said the eight villages have a total population of 1066.
The Yadrana villager said awareness by health officials played a major role in ensuring villagers were properly consulted before deciding on being vaccinated or not.
Mr Soko said neighbouring islands, Nayau and Vanuavatu were also expected to get their jabs soon.
