Malaita set to launch and roll out COVID-19 vaccine

Malaita Province, the province with the largest population is next in line to launch and roll out COVID-19 vaccines.

This week, a four days COVID-19 vaccination workshop training and roll out planning was held at the provincial capital, Auki, for around 40 medical and public health officers including volunteers from all regions of the province selected for the vaccine roll out in the province.

Participants were trained on pre vaccination or Non Communicable Disease (NCD) screening, registration, administration of the vaccine and data entry. Total of 22 vaccination teams were formed during the week who will be deployed to the various regions and health zones across the province to administer the vaccines.

Acting Provincial Health Director Dr David Danitofea explained that this week’s workshop training was critical to prepare all health workers who will be engaged in vaccination roll out.

“ Malaita province is huge thus this week’s session has enabled the teams to thoroughly assess how best they can efficiently and effectively deliver the vaccines to all eligible persons across Malaita”,

“So basically the roll out plan is to set up fixed vaccination sites at various health clinics in the Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern regions and have for each fixed sites outreach or mobile vaccination teams who will be moving into the communities to bring vaccines closure to the people in their villages and homes”, explained Dr Danitofea.

The Provincial Health Director thanked all health workers for their attendance and more importantly for their plans developed based on their own experiences with immunization activities.

The director explained that while Malaita province will be challenging due to its large population size, the team are determined to roll out the vaccines to ensure that Malaita province is also prepared for any possible entry of COVID-19 and the worst- case scenario, a community transmission.

National Health Promotion team were also deployed this week to the province with Information, Education and Communication (IEC) materials to assist health workers in the roll out of the vaccines, as well as training on community engagement and effective communication.

3,200 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have arrived in Auki for the launch and initial roll out with more batches being prepared by the National Medical Store for deployment to Malaita.

With the inclusion of Malaita province for vaccine roll out, the country as of tomorrow 13^th of August, total of 5 provinces have launched and rolled out the COVID-19 vaccines.

Next in line to launch and also roll out the vaccines is Central Islands Province followed by Isabel province which will take place next week.