By Eleanor Gee

The roll out of second doses of COVID-19 vaccine begins tomorrow, 24 June, at the Basilica Church in Nuku’alofa and Vaiola Hospital, health officials said today, and released a timetable for various locations.

Ministry of Health CEO Dr Siale ‘Akau’ola said nce the second dose of vaccinations are completed, “we can move on to vaccinating the rest of the population”.

People receiving their second dose of the vaccine will need to present their vaccination card on the day they are due to be inoculated. Those who have misplaced their vaccination cards must show their ID.

Dr Veisinia Matoto said people who can’t be vaccinated on their due date can be inoculated after the due date, but it must be within 12 weeks since receiving the first dose.

Scientific evidence suggests symptoms after the second dose of vaccine are lower than the first dose, she said. 

“After receiving the second dose, it takes two to three weeks for the body to react to the vaccine to reach its highest protection level.”

The COVID-19 vaccine has around 92% protection from severe illness or hospitalization.

Next round of vaccines

The Ministry of Health is looking at getting the next batch of COVID-19 vaccines for the remainder of the target population (approximately 70%) as early as August, confirmed Dr ‘Akau’ola.

Pacific Islands countries such as Palau and American Samoa have already inoculated the majority of their adult populations. Palau has vaccinated 90 percent of its adult population.

Dr ‘Akau’ola said Palau recently recorded a COVID-19 case who travelled into the country from Guam, but it did not have any effect on the country due to their high vaccination rate.

“For Tonga, we need to try and get our vaccinations to the highest level quickly.”

Looking at the COVID-19 situation in Fiji, it is a wakeup call for Pacific countries, he added.

"While Tonga has been able to stop the virus from entering the country, there will be a time when it can enter the country."

Dr ‘Akau’ola believes that if the majority of Tonga's population is vaccinated, and the virus does enter the country, we won’t be affected like Fiji.

Discussions to secure the next batch of COVID-19 vaccines are ongoing, but he said Tonga is looking at New Zealand, COVAX, and possibly USA.

Future Travel

With some countries around the world allowing people who have been fully inoculated for COVID-19 to travel, Dr ‘Akau’ola said Tonga would need a good surveillance system in place in order to join, for example, the New Zealand and Australian travel bubble.

“We need to be able to conduct COVID-19 tests, even though we don’t have COVID-19.”

He explained if anyone coughs or has a cold in New Zealand (which has a very small amount of cases), they would be tested for COVID-19. “That is called sentinel surveillance. They expect the results to be negative. We don’t have that here.”

“Getting vaccinated is only part of the system that countries need to have to be part of a travel bubble.”

“In order for Tonga to join the New Zealand and Australian travel bubble, we would need a surveillance system that is trustworthy and at the level of those countries,” he said.