On Tuesday, May 4, 2021, Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape will formally start the vaccine roll-out in the country at the APEC House in Port Moresby.
Government ministers, regional governors, and dignitaries, including delegates from PNG's foreign partners, are scheduled to attend the presentation, which begins at 10 a.m.
David Manning, Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response, said most of PNG's 22 provinces will have obtained their AstraZenega vaccine and completed their training in advance of the May 5 national roll-out.
He explained that the COVID-19 vaccine's National Roll-out Programme began on March 25-26 with a COVID-19 vaccination training for all Provincial Emergency Operation Centres (PEOCs), followed by a series of training activities/workshops for different target groups covering an outline of the vaccination program and microplanning, vaccine, immunization protection, connectivity, and demand creation.
In the first round, 103,725 people have been registered to be vaccinated, according to Manning. They are either health care employees, support personnel in both public and private health hospitals, workers in quarantine and isolation facilities, students in health establishments such as nursing colleges and medical schools, jail guards, border and immigration/customs agents, seaport workers, or airport/aviation workers. officers, airline workers, police, Defence Force personnel and teachers.
According to the Controller, the cumulative number of cases in PNG had increased to 11,206 in the last 24 hours, finishing at 12 p.m. on Friday, April 30.
“That is from a total of just over 92,000 tests we have conducted to date for COVID-19. We are recording cases every day so the vaccine will be critical to our COVID-19 response going forward. I urge everyone to be responsible and make that important life-saving decision to take the jab. Protect yourself and your family,” Manning said.
