NO NEW POSITIVE CASES.
Following the 7th round of the testing schedule on Friday 4 February; for all passengers of flight QF 115 and all frontline workers that serviced the flight, all in quarantine, no new positive case was identified. There remains no evidence of community transmission.
The timely arrival of the 10,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Australia on Tuesday 1 February boosted the continuation of the vaccination roll out program. Samoa’s Vaccination Status as of 2 February 2022 stands at:
224,455 AstraZeneca doses administered
106,774 (87.2%) Fully vaccinated
117,681 (96.5%) First dose only
45,633 Pfizer doses were administered(12-17yrs old)
19,782 Fully vaccinated
25,851 First dose only
Arrangements for the delivery of the paediatric Pfizer vaccine for the cohort 5-12yrs are being finalized for implementation within the first quarter of this year.
Likewise arrangements for the implementation of our booster policy are progressing well and start date for the public will be announced in due course. We re-iterate our gratitude to all our partners who have helped in ensuring we have access to safe and effective vaccines.
Many safe and effective vaccines that prevent people from getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19 are available.
The government has ensured that these are available in sufficient quantities to cover the whole population.
This is a core part of managing COVID-19, in addition to the main preventive measures of keeping a safe distance from others and avoiding crowds, wearing a well-fitting mask covering your mouth and nose, keeping indoor spaces well ventilated, cleaning hands regularly and covering coughs and sneezes.
The impacts of COVID 19 on all facets of our lives have been far reaching. Apart from the focus on the health of our population, there is a need to pay attention to the impacts on the economy and welfare of our people.
The announcements this week of stimulus packages for small businesses and support for upgrading ‘housing’ including sanitation facilities for the most vulnerable groups are important strategies to further strengthen our COVID response.