Vaccine

C19 Taskforce set to visit provinces

According to the Department of Health Report on vaccination, 311,435 persons representing 6.1 percent of Papua New Guinea’s population have been fully vaccinated. This is a significantly low rate compared to other countries around the world.

To address the low uptake of vaccines in Papua New Guinea, the COVID-19 Vaccine Ministerial Taskforce will be coordinating the work undertaken by partners that contributed to addressing the negative impact of the global pandemic on the economy.

Vaccine for kids paves way for protection against long-haul COVID

For many, that will also mean protection from long COVID -- sometimes-debilitating symptoms that can last for months after a COVID-19 diagnosis.

 

Kate Porter's daughter Adria was 11 when they both came down with an awful fever, fatigue and malaise in March 2020, before there was a vaccine for anyone. They both have grappled with ongoing symptoms since.

Vaccines Safe For Pregnant Mothers

Port Moresby General Hospital CEO, Dr. Paki Molumi and NCD PHA CEO Dr. Steven Yanie in a recent press conference said pregnant mothers must take the two dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine to minimize severe infection from the disease.

“The volume of the lungs is compromised by the pregnancy. If you get COVID-19, it is further compromised. If you get one dose, you have not reached immunity or it is like you haven’t been vaccinated at all. You need to take your second dose to be fully immunized,” added Dr. Molumi.  

Vaccines arrive in Bville

Speaking at a press conference in Buin, Health Secretary Clement Totavun said the decision to roll out these vaccines will be decided by the Bougainville government through the Bougainville Executive Council.

Totavun presented a policy paper on Friday.

The BEC will deliberate on the Covid-19 vaccine while the policy paper will provide technical factual information on the types of vaccines and their benefits.

Vaccine survey to be conducted

With assistance from UNAIDS, The Global Fund and the National Department of Health, the survey was launched in response to high levels of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and misconceptions in this population.

It will assess perceptions in ten provinces.

“This COVID-19 vaccination survey will be an opportunity to trigger good in-depth discussions by our key populations and People Living with HIV communities of their perceptions, thinking and understanding,” said KP Advocacy coordinator, Lesley Bola.

Tags: 

Vaccine gift for PNG

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.

First evidence jab can train immune system to fight against COVID-19

Moderna said neutralising antibodies were found in the first eight people who took part in their safety trials.

It also said the immune response was similar to that in people infected with the actual virus.

Larger trials to see whether the jab protects against infection are expected to start in July.

Work on a coronavirus vaccine has been taking place at unprecedented speed, with around 80 groups around the world working on them.

Moderna was the first to test an experimental vaccine, called mRNA-1273, in people.

​The largest buyer of children’s vaccines

The figures, released during World Immunization Week, make UNICEF the largest buyer of vaccines for children in the world.

Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the three remaining polio-endemic countries, each received more doses of vaccines than any other country, with almost 450 million doses of vaccines procured to children in Nigeria, 395 million in Pakistan and over 150 million in Afghanistan. UNICEF is the lead procurement agency for the Global Polio Eradication Initiative.