Fiji starts COVID-19 vaccination campaign for frontline workers

SUVA - The South Pacific island nation of Fiji started on Wednesday the COVID-19 vaccination campaign, aiming to fully vaccinate 6,000 frontline workers including health care workers, members of the disciplined forces and border control workers who operate the COVID-19 border control and quarantine services.

According to a statement by Fiji's Health Ministry, the first batch of 12,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines, procured through the COVAX facility, will provide two doses each of vaccination for the target group. Additional vaccines sent through COVAX will arrive in staggered shipments in the weeks to come.

"We are very fortunate to receive the initial supply of the vaccines towards our collective effort to stop COVID-19 in Fiji and this will boost confidence among our neighbors on the safety of our shore as a tourist destination going forward, and I am very grateful to our donor partners for their tireless effort in assisting the Ministry", Fiji's Health Minister Ifereimi Waqainabete said.

As the vaccination campaign started on Wednesday, the Health Ministry urges Fijians to continue to apply preadvised measures to successfully prevent and control transmission. This includes physical distancing where possible, managing proper ventilation, and maintaining good hand hygiene, alongside robust programmes to test, trace, isolate and treat to keep communities safe.

On Wednesday, the first doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine were administered to 10 frontline workers at the Nadi International Airport, about 200 km west of the capital city Suva.

The second jab will be given within eight to 10 weeks after the first jab.

According to the minister, Fiji, an island nation with a population of around 900,000, is targeting to get 1.2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Fiji has 66 COVID-19 cases in total, with seven active cases, 57 recoveries and two deaths since its first case was reported on March 19 last year.

The island nation still maintains a strict travel restriction to date for foreign visitors alongside a nationwide curfew effective from March 30 last year.