Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says if we reach our goal of at least 80% vaccination of our target population for COVID-19, while we may still see individuals infected with the virus, we will not see nearly as many people becoming seriously ill, needing hospitalisation or dying from COVID-19.
He says their ultimate goal remains for us to protect our friends, family and colleagues from becoming seriously ill or dying from this virus, and the vaccines are the best way to do that.
Doctor Fong says recent global studies have also shown that these COVID vaccines reduce the risk of the virus spreading to other household members.
He says these vaccines will protect those who take them but also, to some extent, those that the vaccinated person comes into contact with.
The Permanent Secretary stresses that we should all be vaccinated, not only for our health, but for the health of those around us, our families, friends, co-workers, and customers.
He says the clear message that is reverberating from renowned health institutions such as US CDC, and others, and the experience of many nations around the world that are facing the same challenge as we are, is that widespread immunity through vaccines is the only sustainable way out of this pandemic.
The Permanent Secretary further says we must continue to apply all of the public health measures in our toolbox that we know are effective also against these variants - like wearing masks, washing hands frequently and maintaining physical distance from others outside our immediate household.
He says we are still a long way from having at least 80% of the population fully vaccinated, so these are prudent measures despite our improving vaccine coverage.
For those in our community who have yet to be vaccinated, Doctor James Fong reminds you to listen to the facts and not be misguided by the misinformation and rumours spreading within our community.
He says the decisions you make not only affect you, but those in your family, broader community and as a country.
Doctor Fong also reminds everyone, vaccinated or not, we all need to stay alert to our own health and immediately self-isolate if you have symptoms of COVID-19.
He says over the past few weeks, we have also seen a spike in dangerous misinformation and individuals posing as experts providing incorrect facts about COVID-19.
Doctor Fong says they are concerned that people who are inclined to resist the vaccine will cling to that misinformation or even misconstrue facts that are reported correctly, threatening the efforts of the teams trying to provide the best protection possible for our communities.
He says here in Fiji, the science and evidence also shows us that we are on the right track with responding to the Delta strain.
He further says the latest global data tells us the vaccine does reduce the risk of symptomatic disease from the virus and while some people may still be infected with the virus when fully vaccinated, COVID-19 vaccines are highly effective at reducing a person's risk of becoming seriously ill, needing hospitalisation or dying from COVID-19.
After one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine, a person is provided 71% protection from being severely ill or hospitalised; and this goes up to 92% protection 14 days after their second dose.
A fully vaccinated person may still get infected with the virus, however they will likely experience only mild or no symptoms because of the protection provided by these vaccines.
For instance, in the UK where they have a high vaccination coverage rate, they are now seeing surges of cases due to Delta variant, however their daily hospitalisations and deaths have been less than previous COVID-19 outbreaks.
For the US, we can see a similar picture where they are reporting significant spikes of COVID-19 cases and deaths in areas with high unvaccinated communities. Their hospitals and intensive care units are full of the unvaccinated.
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