Meninga backs vaccine rollout

RUGBY league legend Mal Meninga has thrown his support behind PNG’s Covid-19 vaccine roll-out as the second shipment of Australian-donated Covid-19 vaccines arrives in PNG.
Ten thousand doses were delivered on a commercial flight to Port Moresby last weekend, marking a new phase in PNG’s vaccine delivery programme.
The vaccines will be administered to priority groups in line with PNG’s national vaccine deployment plan.
Former PNG national team coach and Australian NRL legend Mal Meninga compares it to preparing for a match.
The whole team needs to be ready, not just a few individuals and the teamwork approach is important to tackling this huge community problem.
“It’s a very important message to do the right thing by your families, by their villages and by their country,” Meninga said. “We plead with all the leaders, all the frontliners, the essential services, to lead by example and get vaccinated.”
According to a statement from the Australian High Commission, the 10,000 followed the 8,480 doses Australia provided in March, to start PNG’s vaccine programme.
It said Australia had allocated over a million doses to its neighbours – including PNG – as it delivered on a commitment to bolster PNG’s public health response to the Covid-19.
The doses have been supplied at no cost to the PNG Government, and are free for all PNG citizens.
The AstraZeneca doses are manufactured in Melbourne by CSL – an Australian pharmaceutical company.
They are the same vaccines being rolled out in Australia.
As of May 12, approximately 1.8 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine had been administered in Australia. Australia is proudly supporting PNG’s sleeves-up campaign, which is working to tackle vaccine hesitancy by providing clear and objective data about the benefits of vaccination.
Australia’s minister for international development and the Pacific senator Zed Seselja said getting vaccinated was important for individuals, communities and the entire country as well.