AstraZeneca

The staff who were present had the opportunity to choose between the Johnson and Johnson vaccine or AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Speaker of Parliament Job Pomat and several staff from the Speaker’s office also received the COVID-19 vaccination.

Mr Pomat said he opted for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine, and he would like to see more people come forward to be vaccinated. He stressed that the staff are not forced to be vaccinated but emphasized that vaccination is an individual’s choice.

“As friends and partners, Aotearoa New Zealand stands alongside the Pacific at this difficult time.

“PNG’s success in tackling COVID-19 has been hard-won at an enormous cost to your economy and livelihoods,” he stated.

“New Zealand is proud to be partnering with PNG to help us all get through this.”

Through the COVAX facility, New Zealand is providing protection to 1.2 million people across the Pacific. New Zealand’s first shipment of vaccines for PNG arrived recently.

Cardinal Ribat who volunteered to be vaccinated on Wednesday 14^th April in Port Moresby said he had underlying health conditions also which compelled him to get protection from Corona virus by getting a jab.

Cardinal Ribat said because of his underlying conditions his physician encouraged him to go and get vaccinated. He did it also to encourage the people not to be afraid of it.

The roll out will resume on Tuesday, 6^th of April.

Deputy Incident Manager, Department of Health Dr. Melinda Susapu revealed on Saturday 3^rd April, that so far, 250 health workers in NCD have been vaccinated.

Most of the health workers are from the Port Moresby General Hospital.

Dr. Susapu, said the roll out has been temporary stopped during this Easter Holiday and will resume on Tuesday.

The flight brought in all the consumables and equipment required to set up a vaccination clinic.

Starting next week, the clinic will be able to administer the AstraZeneca vaccine to frontline health workers who want to be vaccinated.

Also included were personal protection gear, including gowns, gloves and goggles to help protect front-line workers in their workplace as they provide essential health services to Papua New Guineans.

They will be transferred to the International SOS that is running the vaccination clinic.

In a statement, the EU said priority has always been the safety and the efficacy of any COVID-19 vaccine authorised for use, clarifying that the vaccine, like others, have gone through a rigorous and independent safety scrutiny of the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The EU stated that COVID‑19 vaccine developed by BioNTech and Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca after a positive scientific recommendation, is based on a thorough assessment of the safety, effectiveness and quality of the vaccine by the EMA.

In the last media conference, the Controller of the national pandemic and Commissioner of Police, David Manning, said these COVID-19 prevention measures must be complied with as a roll-out plan is being finalised for the Astra-Zeneca vaccine.

Manning said: “It is pleasing to note a difference in people moving around (with masks).”

He stressed there will be an enforcement element to the isolation strategy nationwide.

“We never have enough ICU beds to cater for critically ill people that have serious symptoms of COVID,” Manning said.

The Australian government announced today that they will initially supply at the earliest, 8000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines from Australia’s stock.

Another million doses of Australia’s contracted supplies from AstraZeneca will also be gifted to Papua New Guinea.

Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, said Australia is working with Papua New Guinea to support the Government’s response to the concerning spike in COVID-19 cases.

After studying the various COVID-19 vaccines developed, MESAC recommended that PNG access the AstraZeneca vaccine that was developed through the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) facility and approved by the World Health Organisation.

He announced this after a meeting with Health Minister Jelta Wong, National Pandemic Controller David Manning, members of the Joint Task Force, stakeholders and the MESAC.