President, Speaker, CJ take first vaccine shots
REPUBLIC OF NAURU
Government Information Office
MEDIA RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Thursday, 15 April, 2021
President, Speaker, CJ take
first vaccine shots
The heads of the three arms of
Government say getting vaccinated is important to further protect
family and Nauru.
President Lionel Aingimea, Speaker
of Parliament Marcus Stephen and Chief Justice Taniela Fatiaki, and
their spouses are among the first to receive their first dose of
the COVAX AstraZeneca vaccine on launch day, 9 April.
With Nauru maintaining regular
cargo and passenger flights to Brisbane, Australia, the likelihood
of COVID-19 entering Nauru remains a possibility, therefore the
Government urges all eligible Nauruans and foreigners, 18 years and
over, to get vaccinated.
At the end of day four of
vaccinations, over 700 doses have been administered to front line
workers and walk-ins.
Once the 7000-plus eligible adults
receive both doses of the vaccine, Nauru may be the first country
to have achieved 100 per cent vaccine coverage of its adult
population by July.
With a fully immunised population,
the government hopes to be able to set up travel bubbles with Nauru
Airlines' usual destinations especially with Australia being an
important destination for Nauru for medical referrals and education
purposes.
President Aingimea says Australia
is looking at easing border restrictions around October, however
Nauru is hoping for a date closer to when Nauru is expected to have
fully vaccinated its population around mid-July.
With the global demand for
vaccines, the government allocated funds to secure procurement of
vaccines very early on. The two shipments arrived earlier than
expected on 1 and 8 April, prompting swift replanning to roll-out
vaccination.
The roll-out of the first dose is
scheduled over four weeks and expected to be completed by the end
of April. The second dose will be rolled out from mid-June to
mid-July.
In the meantime, the Ministry of
Health continues their random antigen rapid testing in the
workplace and community.