NCD completes vaccination

By LULU MARK
THE first phase of the Covid-19 vaccination in Port Moresby, led by the National Capital District (NCD) health authority, has been completed, an official says.NCD Covid-19 coordinator Dr Steven Yennie said the phase one was closed last Thursday with 6,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine administered to the people. He said, this week, the vaccination was being rolled out in the Motu-Koita Assembly (MKA) villages. “Phase two starts in July,” he said. The vaccination was open to the public and people were lining up in their electorates to get the vaccine from 9am-4pm Monday to Friday over the last month.NCD Health Authority acting chief executive officer Ken Wai said NCD was given 4,000 doses from the 132,000 doses from the Covax-facility.He said after the 4,000 doses were used, a request for another 2,000 doses was made and was rolled out over the last two weeks.“Another 800 doses were supplied for the MKA and the vaccination continued after the launch last Friday,” he said.Dr Wai said there were several events around the city last month where people were not adhering to the control measures.“The new normal or ‘niupela pasin’ of washing hands, wearing masks and keeping physical distancing must be practiced by everyone,” he said.“If people do not adhere, we will be faced with another surge in cases in the city.” According to the National Control Centre, phase one employed the fixed site strategy where vaccines were delivered only to selected health facilities in the country to cover three per cent of the population which included health workers giving direct medical care to patients, health facility support staff, security personnel, teachers, officers working in isolation and quarantine facilities including border and immigration officers.Phase two would employ fixed site, outreach and mobile clinics which means most facilities would receive the vaccines and it would cover 17 per cent of the population capturing the population above 45 years and those with comorbidities.This is in line with the plan to cover 20 per cent of the population by the end of this year through the Covax facility.In phase three, the vaccines will be included in the routine immunisation meaning it will be in the freezers in health facilities and available to the general population.