Vaccination rate is very low: Official

THE Coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccination rate is very low in Papua New Guinea despite the country having enough vaccines to vaccinate the eligible population, the National Pandemic Response deputy controller says.
Dr Esorom also revealed that 1,094 vials of AstraZeneca, which provided more than 11,000 doses from the Covax Facility, had to be destroyed on July 29 because they had expired.
He said the main reason for the low uptake was the vaccine hesitancy which was a great concern.
Dr Esorom said the total number of people vaccinated as of Sunday were 134,444 of which 102,204 people received one dose and 32,240 had received two doses (fully vaccinated).
“We have three vaccines (AstraZeneca, Sinopharm and Johnson & Johnson) that are available to the people to choose from,” he said.
“The number of people vaccinated is very low for our population.
“Just below two per cent (1.7 per cent) of the population are vaccinated.
“We have enough vaccines but there is no demand.”
Dr Esorom said PNG donated 50,000 doses of AstraZeneca to Vietnam through the Covax-Facility last month because it could not be used in time here.