Page 12 - Islands Business January 2021

Cover Cover
2021- THE

PROGNOSIS

By Samantha Magick

Timely vaccination 2021 campaigns will be key to the re-
covery of Pacific island economies. A handful of Pacific Islands
have recorded no cases of COVID-19 at all (at the time of
going to print)—Cook Islands, Kiribati, American Samoa, Niue,
Nauru, Tuvalu, Tonga, Tokelau and Palau. Others such as the
Federated States of Micronesia, have only recorded cases at
the border from returning citizens, while most other island
nations have recorded no cases of community transmission
for months. Those with more open borders—Guam, French
Polynesia and Papua New Guinea—have ongoing community
transmission.
COVID-19 vaccinations are already underway in the north
Pacific, where nations and territories are beneficiaries of the
US government’s ‘Operation Warp Speed’ efforts. In Ameri-
can Samoa, first responders, healthcare workers and essen-
tial employees are receiving the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine. In
Guam, demand for the vaccine has been high, particularly
amongst the aged population. The first 1,600 doses of the Tuilaepa Dr Sa’ilele Malielegaoi
Moderna COVID-19 vaccine arrived in FSM on December 28th
and are being administered to frontline workers, the elderly
and people with underlying medical conditions. Unlike the
Pfizer vaccine which requires extreme ultra-cold storage, the
Moderna vaccine can be stored in refrigerators. Government
workers are now being inoculated in CNMI, and Palau has
undertaken to vaccinate its entire population of 18,000, with
President-elect Surangel Whipps Jr. saying it may be one of
the first countries in the world (alongside Israel and Vatican
City) to complete its vaccination program.
At the time of going to print, the South Pacific was still
waiting. And the global lag is concerning the WHO’s Director
General, who said on January 7: “One year on since WHO is-
sued its first Disease Outbreak News about this virus, 42 coun-
tries have started vaccinating their high-risk populations with
various COVID-19 vaccines. Of the 42, 36 are high-income
and six are upper middle-income countries. This is clearly
a problem and this problem is getting worse because some
countries are pursuing new deals outside of COVAX offering
higher prices. This compromises our collective commitment
to equitable access. We have to take action to address this.”
Pacific island nations further south hope to see vaccines
begin to arrive in the first quarter of this year. Australia has
committed to help them achieve “full immunisation cover-
age” over three years. As we reported last month, health
officials across the region are now looking at deployment
and vaccination plans, indemnity and liability issues, vaccine
security, and public health communications.
Screening and quarantine procedures, and how these are
conveyed to the public, continue to be tested as repatriation
of Pacific Islanders continues, most recently in FSM with the
arrival of a government ship MV Chief Mailo from the Philip-
pines with one positive case aboard. FSM President David
TC Yasa reconstruction efforts. Photo: Australia government

12 Islands Business, January 2021