Fiji is working very hard along with other Pacific Island countries to prepare its COVID-19 vaccine deployment and vaccination plan.
This was highlighted by the World Health Organization(WHO) representative to the South Pacific, Dr Corinne Capuano.
Dr Capuano said this plan was a comprehensive document and it would include all aspects of rolling out the vaccines.
“It is not a simple one stage thing, it requires a lot of activities to be carried out and be developed at the same time,” she said.
“It goes from training depending on the type vaccine, to making sure that prioritisation of groups is done and who were at most risk of developing a severe disease have access to the vaccine as a priority.
“These are examples of all the things that need to be put in place and also this included the regulatory capacity to ensure that vaccines that were accessed were safe and efficient.”
She said it was important to think about the priority groups.
“These priority groups are people above a certain age and most at risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus.
“In terms of the number of people, if we exclude PNG, we have altogether about three million people in the Pacific, however, not everybody will be eligible for the vaccine.
“As you know, some vaccines will require two doses, so that means you will need a double number of the eligible population.”
She said at this stage, some Pacific Island countries had commenced the vaccination process using vaccines that were procured from other countries.
She added there was no definite timeline when vaccines would be rolled out in the Pacific and Fiji.
“Initially, we were anticipating maybe during the second part of 2021, we would be able to procure and receive vaccines,” Dr Capuano said.
She said there was a lot of effort done by partners at global and regional levels to secure vaccines all year for the Pacific.
