Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says the current commitments for the COVID-19 vaccine doses for the country can cover 484,000 Fijians.
He says we need to cover 650,000 people.
Doctor Fong says they expect 64,800 of the 100,800 doses pledged by COVAX to arrive by June.
New Zealand has pledged half a million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to Fiji.
We have received 100,000 doses from India and expect to receive the first shipment of 10,000 doses from Australia as early as next week, with other shipments arriving monthly.
The Permanent Secretary says they are grateful for the commitments they have received for vaccines so far, but they are not enough, nor are they coming soon enough, and the government is working with our international partners on new commitments
He says with an outbreak already upon us, the urgency of achieving widespread immunity grows daily.
Doctor Fong also stresses that no one in Fiji is fully vaccinated.
You need two doses of these vaccines to be fully vaccinated, and then need to wait an additional two weeks for its full response within your immune system to take effect.
He says only once every Fijian, who is eligible, achieves that level of immunity, will Fiji truly be safe from this deadly virus.
The Permanent Secretary says it is not easy to give up the normal activities of daily life and remain at home, but if we all make this effort, we can stop this virus once again and return to those normal activities--to go to work, see family and friends, do our shopping, play sports.
He stresses that no government can defeat this virus alone as it takes the effort of an entire nation to stop it in its tracks, and that means that every Fijian depends on every other Fijian to do their part in the lockdown zone, in the containment areas, and all across Fiji.
Doctor Fong says this is like a war, defeat is unthinkable, and compromise is impossible.
He says we have to win, and we will win but we will need everyone’s best effort.
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