By Linny Folau

The roll out of Tonga’s COVID-19 vaccination program starts next week on Thursday April 15 in Tongatapu, with frontline workers the first to receive their shots at Falemasiva Hall, said the Minister of Health Hon Dr 'Amelia Tu'ipulotu today.

Since the arrival of the first 24,000 doses of the COVID-19 AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccines on March 31, the Ministry of Health has held a national campaign on radio and television to inform the public about the vaccine and its roll-out.

There has also been training and capacity building for frontline workers, coordinating resources for safe storage and vaccination capacity.

The Ministry expects to vaccinate around 2,200 front-line workers from April 15-17 including health officials, police, defence and those working on our borders, at the airport and ports, at Falemasiva in Havelu.

After the frontliners, the vaccine will roll-out to those most vulnerable to the virus, including the elderly and those suffering from NCDs at villages in Tongatapu, administered by various health teams.

A National Technical Working Group is also working closely with the World Health Organization and UNICEF to support health workers and all stakeholders involved.

The Health Minister said that Tonga is not new to immunization and the Ministry in the past had great success due to communities cooperating.

“We have high capacity because we have delivered up to 1,000 immunizations a day,” she said.

The Minister also reiterated that the WHO had approved this vaccine, after its experts ensured its safety and she asked for the public's support and cooperation.

Benefit outweighs risks

Meanwhile, in regards to international reports raising concerns over blood clots as possible side effects from this vaccine, the Ministry said they had worked very closely with COVAX, UNICEF and WHO and are confident in their reports.

Acting Health CEO Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa said, Government would not make any decision to bring in a vaccine that will do more bad then good to our people.

“We rely on the records from our international stakeholders that it is safe as we have worked closely with them and trust their procedures. Getting the vaccination is vital to our people's health because being vaccinated is our responsibility to not only protect ourselves but our family and people from the virus,” he said.

Tonga border needs to open in future

In addition, Dr Veisinia Matoto-Vaha'i said this is the same vaccine that is being rolled out in New Zealand and Australia, and in priority groups at nursing homes.

She said there had been no evidence to date confirming that this vaccine caused blood clots, the term used in these reports was 'possible'.

“WHO also recommended for this vaccine to continue being rolled out because there are more benefits to gain than that of the risk.

“In addition, in Tonga a health survey has revealed that one out of five people has NCDs. Risks can happen in any medication or vaccination, but what we look at is, does the benefits outweighs the risks, nothing is 100 percent perfect,” Dr Veisinia Matoto-Vaha'i said.

“Side effects occurs, but we don’t know if it would happen to us here in Tonga because this is the first time we are administering it in Tonga. But we are aware of it and will monitor. At the same time, WHO reported around 2.8 million people had died from COVID-19 worldwide, and not one had been proven to have been directly related to this vaccination,” she said.

The doctor said that Tonga remains COVID free. “Should we remain like this or do whatever we can to prepare ourselves and that includes being vaccinated, because we need to open our border sometime in the future,” Dr Veisinia Matoto-Vaha'i said.