Vaccine hesitancy highest in Honiara & GP

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has revealed that so far, the most vaccine hesitancy in the country has been reported in Honiara and Guadalcanal province.

He made the announcement in his nationwide address today citing the capital city and Guadalcanal as two likely places that COVID-19 could enter. He urges the people in these two locations to take-up their vaccination.

“I call on all citizens living in Honiara, and Guadalcanal to urgently take your COVID-19 injections. This is because the most likely place for COVID-19 to enter our communities are in Honiara and Guadalcanal,” he said.

Sogavare says that if COVID-19 reaches the communities in Honiara, any lockdown will seriously affect the livelihood of people living in our communities and settlements around Honiara.

“Access to food and water for daily needs will be very difficult. Therefore, it is crucial that every adult living in communities and settlements around Honiara must be fully vaccinated BEFORE any community transmission occurs.

“If we achieve a 90 % full vaccination in Honiara and Guadalcanal, we will not have to go into complete lockdowns if we detect community spread of COVID-19 in our communities,” he said.

COVID-19 Vaccination Update

Meanwhile Sogavare says as of Friday 17^th September 2021, a total of 120,515 doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered in the country.

From these, 26,710 are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, representing only 6.4 (%) of target population of 417,327 people and a further 67,095 persons have received only first doses – representing a further 16 % of the target population. Collectively this means that 93,805 people in Solomon Islands has had at least 1 dose of COVID-19 vaccine, representing around 22% of the total target population.

These numbers include numbers of people that have received their first doses in all the 10 provinces of the country now that the final 3 provinces – Makira, Rennell and Bellona and Temotu have rolled out their COVID-19 vaccination programs.

“I thank all provincial premiers, your executive, and all members of your provincial assemblies for leading the vaccination rollout in your provinces. Your leadership will bring confidence to your people to follow your example and protect the people in our provinces.

“I also thank all church and community leaders in our provinces for supporting the COVID-19 vaccination rollout programs by receiving your vaccination injections. Your participation will generate confidence in members of your congregations and communities to take their injections of COVID-19 vaccines.

“I also thank the Ministry of health and provincial health teams and all those that supported and made the vaccination rollout in all our provinces possible,” he said.

News@SBMOnline2021