By Staff Writer
The national COVID-19 mass vaccination run last Friday struggled badly to reach or get any closer to meeting the 33,000 people targeted for second dose injections.
Several organisers behind the health run in Upolu complained that many of the vaccination teams were only able to travel to their assigned coverage area late in the afternoon.
The delay was in the lack of transport for the more than a 100 teams assigned for the one-day vaccination effort.
The Ministry of Health had relied on transport from other Government ministries that were supposed to be part of the health effort.
This was the same arrangement done in an earlier mass vaccination lockdown.
But the Ministry of Health was this time limited to only few vehicles the other Government Ministries were able to free up.
This was after Government declared last Friday a working day for both the public and private sectors.
The commercial community and Government ministries remained open for normal work during the day.
The health workers were further frustrated when working teams were already done for the day, long before most of the workers returned home from work.
“I think by the end of the vaccination run we had only covered about 8 thousand people due for their second dosage,” one of the key organisers roughly estimated.
“We could have at least added more if we had included the following day on Saturday.”
The one small cheering note for some of the teams was finding a few who were yet to have their very first dosage.
The Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mataafa justified keeping last Friday a working day in the interest of helping out the business community overcome the disruptive effects from a total lockdown for the day.
But the former Prime Minister and HRPP opposition leader, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, rejected the Government leader’s reasoning.
“The business community’s loss will be considerable if there is a pandemic breakout in the country now, whereas all they stand to lose in a lockdown for the week is two days,” Tuilaepa reasoned.
“It is pointless for these vaccination teams to move out into the villages when the people who they are after are at work on the day.”
The opposition leader agreed with the previous lockdown to make it possible for more people to be available for vaccination.
His concern is the working population are in the higher risk category because they front up to the public every day in their work.
Tuilaepa made a determined call as well on the Government to address the issue of the anti-vaccination resistance.
“Government should organise consultations with the anti-vaccinators to hear out their reservations, it is important their concerns are heard.
“Impress on them the risks they pose by infecting others because they are not under vaccination protection.”
Attempts to restrict public movements on Friday to only those with cards to show they are fully vaccinated did not work.
The task of the police stopping individuals on the streets to demand vaccination cards was nowhere to be seen anywhere in Apia.
The total vaccination count as of yesterday, Saturday 20 November 2021, stood at just over 101,000 people fully vaccinated or 83% of the total eligible population for vaccination.
Those who have received their first dosages and waiting for their second injection are at just over 117,000 or close to 96% of the eligible population.
It remains to be seen if any future mass vaccination run down will be organised any sooner.