Doctor: High unvaccinated number a concern

THOUGH there are three types of Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines available in the country, getting more people jabbed remains a huge challenge, says an East New Britain health officer.
Incident manager for Covid-19 in the province Dr Alex Maha said the unvaccinated population included members of the medical fraternity and he was concerned because they were the ones advocating and administering vaccination.
Dr Maha said to date, the province had 46 active cases, but he stressed on the fact that testing needed to be accelerated.
Dr Maha said people needed to understand the purpose of vaccines because low vaccination rate in places such as West Sepik resulted in the province having a low life expectancy – about 45 years – compared to provinces like East New Britain, with good vaccine coverage and a life expectancy of over 65 years.
Dr Maha added that with the outbreak of the Delta variant strain of the Covid-19 around the world, vaccines lowered the risks of infection and its severity, unlike those that were unvaccinated.
Provincial Health Authority (PHA) chief executive officer Dr Ako Yap raised concern that, protocols for the Covid-19 had been ignored, not only by members of the public but also within the Government sector.
Dr Yap urged ENB government to consider stringent measures to control the movement of people within, and in and out of the province.
Meanwhile, deputy provincial administrator in-charge of socio-economic services and deputy chairman of the PHA board, Levi Mano, said the message or information given to the public must change so to convince them to see the importance of getting the jab.
Mano said the vaccine must also be incorporated into the normal immunisation programmes so it’s not singled out as for the Covid-19 only.