PNG PM Marape to launch national wide COVID-19 vaccine roll-out

 Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape will officially launch the vaccine roll-out for Papua New Guinea on Tuesday May 4, 2021 at the APEC House in Port Moresby.

The launch, which will start at 10am, is expected to be attended by Government Ministers, provincial governors and dignitaries including representatives from PNG’s international partners.

Police Commissioner and Controller of the PNG COVID-19 National Pandemic Response David Manning said most of PNG’s 22 provinces would have received their share of the AstraZenega vaccine, and done their training in preparation for the national roll-out scheduled for May 5.

He said that the National Roll-out Plan for the COVID-19 vaccine began on March 25-26 with a training on COVID-19 vaccination for all Provincial Emergency Operation Centres (PEOCs), followed by a series of training activities/workshops for various target groups covering overview of the vaccination program and microplanning, vaccine, immunization safety, communication and demand generation.

Mr Manning said a total of 103,725 people have been listed to be vaccinated in the first phase. They are either health care workers, support staff of both public and private health facilities, workers at quarantine and isolation facilities, students at health institutions such as nursing colleges and medical schools, prison guards, border and immigration/custom officers, seaport workers, airport/aviation officers, airline workers, police, Defence Force personnel and teachers.

The Controller said that as of the last 24 hours ending 12 midday on Friday April 30, the total number of cases in PNG had gone up to 11,206.

“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,” Mr Manning said.

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