Results for Pacific Islands

Repatriation flights are scheduled to arrive in Tonga on March 3, from New Zealand, Australia and Fiji.

We know many people are asking when vaccines will be available in Pacific countries. We anticipate that in 2021, demand will vastly exceed supply. But this doesn’t mean we should just sit and wait. PICs now need to focus on preparing, so they are ready when the first vaccines do arrive. This includes starting pre-registration for priority groups. It means making sure the systems are in place and working, for delivering vaccines and monitoring their safety and effectiveness. This requires investments to strengthen health systems, which will bring benefits beyond COVID-19. By Dr Takeshi Kasai.

The COVAX Initiative expects to release first doses of the Pfizer/BioNTec vaccine and the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine during the first half of 2021 to COVAX Facility participants. Twelve South Pacific countries are included in its first “interim distribution forecast” that targets at least 3% of their populations.

Air New Zealand has announced the start of services from Rarotonga, Cook Islands, to New Zealand after the recent announcement of a one-way quarantine-free travel route, stating “this is the first step of the phased approach to two-way quarantine-free travel between the two nations.”

Digicel, the largest mobile business in the Western Pacific, owned by the Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, “is being crawled over by buyers who see an opportunity to buy the key infrastructure, which is suffering from high debt levels and weak earnings because of the pandemic”, reported the Australian Financial Review on 18 December.

An extremely powerful Tropical Cyclone “Yasa”, is threatening Fiji today, where Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama warned people to prepare and evacuate low lying areas. Forecasters warned that wave heights around the eye of the storm could approach 14 meters (45 feet), with momentary gusts of up to 195 knots (390km/hr). TC Yasa threatens to cause damage on the scale of Tropical Cyclone Winston in 2016. Meanwhile, a Tropical Cyclone Alert is now in force for Tonga.

As Fiji braces for severe Tropical Cyclone Yasa (Cat. 5), Tonga Met. Director ‘Ofa Fa’anunu advises that Tonga should prepare too for a potentially severe cyclone over the weekend. Meanwhile, TC Zazu has moved away from Tonga.

A set of principles and best practices was presented by the Regional Pacific Women’s Network Against Violence Against Women and UN Women Fiji Multi-Country Office, on December 7.

When the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations Free Trade Agreement Plus (PACER Plus) comes into force next week on 13 December 2020, introducing new trade rules, Tonga will face a major financial difficulty of countering big trade deficits with two of its main trading partners, Australia and New Zealand. By Pesi Fonua