Protect yourselves, get vaccinated: Esorom urges people

NATIONAL Pandemic Response deputy controller Dr Daoni Esorom has urged Papua New Guineans to get vaccinated to protect themselves against the Coronavirus (Covid-19).
Dr Esorom made the plea following the drastic drop in the number of people being vaccinated in November compared to last month.
This seems to be linked to the drop in the number of the Covid-19 cases being reported this month as compared to October.
As of Thursday, a total of 272,141 individuals had received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine which is 14.6 per cent of the target population of 1,869,279 for 2021.
Those fully vaccinated stand at 201,318 which is 10.8 per cent of the target population for 2021.
The three vaccines being administered in PNG are AstraZeneca, Johnson and Johnson and Sinopharm.
So far, a total of 359,659 doses of the three vaccines have been administered of which 227,858 (63.4 per cent) were for AstraZeneca, 113,800 (31.6 per cent) were for Johnson and Johnson and 18,001 (5 per cent) for Sinopharm.
Dr Esorom expressed concern over the behaviour of people towards the Covid-19.
He said the virus would not go away on its own; people had to do their part and the most effective weapon against it was the vaccine, including adhering to the Niupela Pasin strategies and interventions.
Dr Esorom said many people came to get vaccinated when they saw the cases increasing and people dying, but when the numbers went down, the number of people coming for vaccination also dropped.
“This really reflects the general behaviour of our people in all health matters,” he said.
“They do not take preventive measures until something happens to them and they react.
“This is why we lost so many people in this wave, driven mainly by the Delta variant. ”
Despite the number of surges going down, the number of new Covid-19 cases being reported per day was still high. As of Wednesday (Nov 24) there were 102 new cases reported raising the country’s confirmed cases to 34,707. There were also 13 new deaths which raised the confirmed known deaths to 542.