More than 5,500 COVID-19 protection frontliners in Fiji have been vaccinated so far and Health Minister, Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete says most of them are well after their first dose.
Doctor Waqainabete says they hope to complete the whole 6,000 doses this week as we look forward to other vaccine batches arriving.
The Health Minister says some of the frontliners had expected side effects such as fever, mild joint pains and slight weakness.
He says they were treated with hydration and pain medicines but no one needed hospital admission for more than 6 hours or any worse effects.
The Health Minister says the vaccine initiates the body’s immune response where the body develops and produces its own COVID-19 soldiers and in doing so those effects could be felt.
Doctor Waqainabete says they are guided by WHO and the many countries who use the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.
He says every country has to identify its high risk groups and many countries with community transmission and the virus lingering in the community have to first vaccinate both healthcare workers, frontliners and the unwell population.
The Health Minister says we don’t have community transmission and we know this because we are also testing the community apart from the frontliners.
Doctor Waqainabete says because we are recovering in small batches, our at risk group are those who meet border quarantine cases, those in the airlines who bring them home, those in the disciplined forces who manage quarantine and those at seaports and the healthcare workers who may come in contact with these border quarantine cases.
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