Tuesday  6 April 2021

The   vaccination rollout which  was launched   on  Tuesday 30 March 2021,  has seen a total number of 558 individuals  being vaccinated.

The AstraZeneca vaccines were donated by the Australian Government.

Deputy Incident Manager of the National Control Centre, Dr Melinda Susapu, announced this  during the first ever virtual media briefing on Covid-19, from Morauta Haus  this afternoon.

“We  will  see a rise in that number  as the week goes by,” she says.

Dr Susapu says  health  care workers from Port Moresby General Hospital, private health facilities, and other essential frontliners in NCD, are being prioritised for vaccination this week.

Citizens are also being urged to  continue to   follow the Niupela Pasin , and engage in regular physical exercise as well as eating organic  foods to  lessen the spread of Covid-19.

Dr Susapu is also concerned  over  the spread of fake news and appealed to those people   to refrain from disseminating misinformation  and support  the government  in   mitigating the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Meantime, Dr Susapu  also  paid tribute to friends of PNG, its development partners, such as UNCEF,  World Health Organisation, Australian government and other development partners for their continuous support to help protect our people from Covid-19.

Responding to queries on   cases  that have recovered  from  Covid-19, Dr Susapu  said there were  many Covid-19  recovery cases at this stage, but the provinces have  yet to provide   figures of what they experience in their respective  provinces.

She again  appealed to  provinces to  provide accurate  and timely  information so that the correct figures can be verified and shared.

Meanwhile, NCC Incident Manager, Dr Esorom Daoni added that a national vaccine rollout  plan is being finalised, however, there were other aspects which needed to be addressed, such as training  of health workers and communication before it can be finalised.

“ It’s not easy to introduce a new vaccine. Yes we had the  launching but then there are other things  that need to go,   to make sure that  vaccine is  rolled out over  the country.”

Dr Daoni also said there was  a   plan in  place for the new vaccine to be integrated into  the Department of Health  current  immunization activities under the national schedule.

Commenting on the use of ventilators, Dr Daoni emphasised that not everybody requires ventilators.

“PMGH takes care of critical  and also severe  cases and  they are the ones who require ventilators,” Dr Daoni said.

According to Dr Daoni, there are 30 ventilators that are inbuilt at PMGH Intensive Care Unit, adding, “the only  intensive care unit (ICU) and emergency care facility  for critical to severe Covid-19  cases  is at the Port Moresby General Hospital”

“If  a patient develops critical to severe symptoms,  then they need to be transferred. And the  only  ICU and emergency care facility  that can take care of that is,    PMGH.”

He however said that,  mild to moderate  Covid-19 cases   should be accommodated at the Rita Flynn and Taurama Aquatic Centre facilities where  portable  ventilators  could  be used,  however moderate cases  might require oxygen.

“Oxygen is much more important than ventilators,” he added.