New Zealand, Australia and other nations in the Pacific need to do more to combat rampant vaccine misinformation in Pacific Island countries, which poses a threat to the whole region, a researcher says.

The Sydney-based Lowy Institute think tank has released projections for when Pacific countries are likely to have vaccinated most of their populations against covid-19.

Lowy researcher Alexandre Dayant said while some Pacific countries have been world-leading in vaccine coverage, others are coming last, and parts of the region now face a humanitarian crisis.

Smaller countries like the Cook Islands, Palau, Nauru and Niue have already achieved majority vaccination thresholds, but other countries lag far behind.

The forecasting shows that even by the start of 2023 there will likely still be a vast chunk of the population unvaccinated in Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu and the Solomon Islands.

Samoa is not expected to have vaccinated everyone 12 years and older until June next year, and Micronesia, the Marshall Islands and Kiribati are not expected to achieve full vaccination for those over 18 years old until part-way through 2022.

In Papua New Guinea, only 1.7 percent of the eligible population have been vaccinated so far, and the Lowy report said it could take until 2026 for just one third to be vaccinated.

Misinformation a barrier
Dayant said one of the main issues in PNG and elsewhere in the Pacific is misinformation.

He said that as well as continuing to support the health system in Pacific countries, New Zealand and the international community should help counter the rampant misinformation about vaccines.

“New Zealand and Australia could help in some ways – dealing with Facebook, seeing what can be done to better control the spread of misinformation on Facebook. I think this is an issue that Facebook has had to deal with for many years.

“Development partners must continue to partner with local government on their targeted counter-misinformation campaigns and develop a media messaging plan to ensure consistency of messaging about vaccines.”

The report said vaccine supply to Pacific nations was also still an issue, but lack of healthcare workers and difficulties getting to those who need to be vaccinated has created bigger logistical challenges, with many remote and diverse areas.

“How well vaccines are distributed and administered will have significant health, social and economic ramifications in the Pacific,” it said.

The New Zealand Council for International Development’s humanitarian network chair Quenelda Clegg told RNZ that in PNG vaccine hesitancy had become vaccine phobia.

“The situation is dire, people are genuinely afraid of this vaccine … and a critical reason why people are afraid of the vaccine is because of misinformation.

“Misinformation is being spread around the country, and it really is preventing people from going and getting help, and going to the health centres and getting that very crucial vaccine.”

Clegg said that before the arrival of covid-19 previous campaigns to reduce vaccine hesitancy had been successful in the Pacific, and she was hopeful the same could be done again.

“We’ve seen it done in Samoa, which went from a very low vaccine rate with the measles, and now today there’s around 100 percent vaccine take-up in the country — so that’s really positive.

“We also know from a recent study done by the World Bank that when people are receiving accurate messages, and are receiving up-to-date information about the safety of vaccines that actually the general intention to get vaccines goes up by around 50 percent.”

Access to the vaccine in geographically isolated areas, and cultural, economic and educational factors were all contributing to many people missing out in PNG, Clegg said.

New Zealand recently sent a health team to PNG, but if more was not done to help the country, Clegg said “we could see the death rate spiral, the country’s health systems collapse, and even the spread of covid-19 beyond PNG.”

The Council for International Development said New Zealand should donate its spare vaccines to PNG, help provide reliable cell phone coverage so health workers and community leaders there could pass on vaccine information, and fund mobile clinics to provide vaccinations in remote areas.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

An iwi that pastor Brian Tamaki descends from are calling him out to say he is putting Māori communities at risk.

This follows mass protests across the country on Tuesday organised by a “freedom” group set up by Tamaki opposing vaccines and lockdown restrictions.

Te Rūnanganui o Ngāti Hikairo located between Kāwhia and Te Awamutu were especially concerned with the number of young tamariki involved in the rallies.

They said Tāmaki, who was one of their own, was asking Māori communities to undermine science, putting their people at risk.

They have now called on the Destiny Church leader to take a whānau-first approach.

New Zealand’s Ministry of Health reported 185 new community cases of covid-19 today, including 25 in Waikato and eight in Northland.

Rūnanga chair Susan Turner said because Tamaki was a descendant of their rūnanga it was important to show leadership and encourage the right messaging and approach to combatting covid 19.

She said Tamaki needed to promote scientific advice among whānau, iwi and the wider community to protect each other against the virus.

‘Share the right messages’
“Brian as a member of Ngāti Hikairo, we wanted to encourage him to share the right messages and dispel the rhetoric that he and his followers are saying to our people.

“We want them to follow science and go with the right advice and for our people to be united in this fight against covid,” she said.

The inclusion of mixed messaging related to freedom and self-determination was particularly concerning.

It comes as the rūnanga battles to prevent an outbreak amongst Ngāti Hikairoa whānau.

Turner said it did not reflect a mātauranga Māori approach as tino rangatiratanga should be represented by a collective effort to protect whānau and those most vulnerable.

The current approach from Tamaki was promoting a colonial approach to preserving life and liberty, she said.

“The biggest concern that we’ve got is the fact that they’re giving our people the wrong information.

Tamaki message ‘opposing tikanga’
“Those sentiments simply oppose the whole concept of what we believe is our tikanga which is about protecting ourselves, protecting our whānau and the people that live in our community.

“It’s clear to us that this virus is going to spread, and we need to do all we can to protect our whānau, our rangatahi and our tamariki,” she said.

The rūnanga strongly supported vaccines and said Tamaki carried a Ngāti Hikairo name, and with that came obligations to use his platform to strengthen Māori communities by encouraging whānau to get vaccinated and comply with health restrictions.

A spokesperson for Tamaki rejected RNZ’s request for an interview but said they wished to speak to Te Rūnanga o Ngāti Hikairo face-to-face about the issues at hand.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Thousands of protesters turned up at New Zealand’s Parliament today, demanding an end to covid restrictions, while another group blocked Auckland’s northern boundary this morning.

Meanwhile, 125 new cases were reported and experts commented on the traffic light system. Here is a summary of today’s covid-19 developments.

Protesters were out in force today at various locations throughout the country. About 50 protesters blocked the northern side of Auckland’s northern boundary this morning for more than one hour, bringing traffic to a halt.

One bit a police officer, and police had to tow a number of vehicles out of the way, and physically move protesters off the road.

Hours later, in Wellington, thousands of protesters gathered in Civic Square, then marched their way to Parliament.

There, they hurled abuse at media and police, threw tennis balls and water at them, while holding flags and signs with messages against lockdown, vaccination, the media and government.

Some tried to jump the railings, and security was ramped up.

House Speaker Trevor Mallard said security had never been so tight in his more-than-30 years at Parliament.

The protesters claimed an array of things like being segregated and the government having “trampled on the rights of New Zealanders”.

Some espoused misinformation, including about vaccines, while others said they wanted New Zealand to live with the virus and not be concerned about the risks.

Other people were upset about losing their jobs because they would not get vaccinated. Others just wanted to be back with family in Auckland.

New community cases in Auckland, Waikato and Northland
The Health Ministry reported 125 new community cases today – 117 in Auckland, two in Waikato and six in Northland. Fifty-eight of today’s cases are yet to be linked.

There were also three new cases at the border.

There are 79 cases in hospital, down from 81 yesterday, with nine in HCU or ICU.

Of the hospitalised cases, 25 are in North Shore Hospital, one in Waitākere, 25 in Middlemore and 28 in Auckland City.

To date, 89 percent of New Zealanders have had their first dose and 79 percent are fully vaccinated.

There were 21,192 first and second covid-19 vaccine doses administered yesterday – 5103 first doses and 16,089 second doses.

Meanwhile, as reported yesterday, 20 residents and four staff members of Edmonton Meadows Care Home in Henderson have tested positive for covid-19.

Seven of the covid-19 positive residents remain in appropriate ward-level care at Auckland  hospitals.

Vaccine certificates next week

Covid-19 Response Minister Chris Hipkins expects people will be able to get vaccine certificates late next week.

Vaccinated people will need the pass in order to access many businesses and events when the country moves to the traffic-light framework.

Hipkins said the certificates were going through their final trials this week.

He will provide an update on them tomorrow.

Prime Minister to visit Auckland
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will visit Auckland tomorrow, on the first day the region moves to level 3, step 2.

Ardern has been under pressure to visit the city, but said she was limited by rules set by Speaker Mallard.

The rules were relaxed last week, with Ardern saying that “felt like then an opportunity where I was able to do both, get to Auckland, talk with business representatives, be able to see some of the work our frontline health workers are doing and still be able to be here [in Wellington].”

She is expected to meet with workers, business people and frontline health workers on her visit to Auckland tomorrow, but is not expected to be out and about in public.

In a statement, ACT leader David Seymour said Ardern should visit hairdressers and hospitality businesses “if she really wanted to understand Aucklanders’ situation”.

Experts weigh in on move to traffic light system
Ardern said yesterday she expected Auckland would move to the Covid-19 Protection Framework — also known as the traffic light system — in just three weeks, once the city’s eligible population would be 90 percent fully vaccinated.

But University of Canterbury professor Michael Plank said it was too risky to move to the new system while cases rise sharply.

Retail stores can reopen in the city tomorrow and Plank said that could see case numbers rise as high as 500 per day around the beginning of December.

However, Australian epidemiologist Melbourne University professor Tony Blakely said the high number of people in the city with at least one jab should encourage health officials to ease restrictions and take advantage of the community’s “peak immunity”.

Dr Blakely’s views were based on the experiences New South Wales and Victoria had had while negotiating the lifting of restrictions there.

Firefighters given vaccine mandate
Firefighters were told 11 days ago they must receive their first covid-19 vaccination by next week, or will not be able to work.

This has raised concerns about what emergency coverage will look like when their first vaccine deadline passes on Monday.

Volunteers make up four-fifths of Fire and Emergency’s (FENZ) 13,000 operational and community workers and some staff are concerned about the future of smaller rural stations if firefighters refuse to get vaccinated.

Other firefighters are frustrated that no proof of inoculation will be required as they are only being asked to make a declaration about their vaccination status.

FENZ said in a statement many staff must be vaccinated to undertake their roles as they work alongside medical practitioners and go into schools to provide education and respond to emergencies.

Police did not respond to questions about whether the mandate for firefighters would also apply to police, but said it was in discussions with the government about mandatory vaccination requirements.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

As with much of Indonesia, the country’s easternmost provinces of Papua and West Papua are struggling to contain the spread of covid-19, with the delta variant on the loose.

In their latest update, health authorities in Papua province reported 33,826 confirmed cases of the virus to date, as well as 794 known deaths. In West Papua province, there were 18,027 confirmed cases and 278 deaths.

Earlier this week, the Papua provincial health spokesman Silvanus Sumule spoke to media outside a hospital in downtown Jayapura, explaining that hospital capacity had passed 100 percent, while they were short of oxygen tanks for covid patients.

Patients were being treated in corridors or outside the building, the sort of desperate scenes being experienced across Indonesia, which has become the latest epicentre of the pandemic in Asia, with more than 3.2 million cases and 90,000 deaths from covid.

But the health system in Papua is weaker than most other parts of the republic, adding to fears that the virus is on track to cause devastation in indigenous Papuan communities.

A human rights adviser to the Papuan People’s Assembly, Wensi Fatubun, said that with the Delta variant rampaging through communities, Papua’s provincial government had sought a full lockdown for the month of August.

“So the local government announced for the lockdown. But the national government doesn’t want Papua province locked down, and to use different restrictions on community activities.”

With Jakarta having overruled Papua’s local government on the matter, the onus goes on how people respond to the restrictions on gatherings as well as safety measures. But adherence to these basic measures has been mixed in Papua during the pandemic.

“We are really worried with covid-19. If it goes to the remote areas, we don’t know, maybe many, many indigenous Papuans will die, because there’s not enough doctors, nurses, and also health facilities,” Fatubun said.

Across Jayapura, there has been a spate of burials in recent days — another sign of the surge in covid-19 cases, which could be significantly higher than official statistics show.

‘Many Papuans are dying’
To avert the death rate growing more out of control, the national government of President Joko Widodo is focussing on efforts to vaccinate as many people as possible in the coming weeks and months.

So far around 22 percent of the eligible population of 208 million have had at least a first dose of the vaccine, and around 10 percent have had two doses.

The moderator of the Papuan Council of Churches, Reverend Benny Giay said many West Papuans were resisting the vaccine rollout, chiefly because of the role of Indonesian security forces who he said indigenous Papuans deeply mistrusted.

“In the past few months, in several districts, it’s the military and police who accompanied medical teams who go promoting the vaccines. But people turn them away. It’s very difficult to convince the people,” he said.

Given the ongoing violent conflict between Indonesian security forces and West Papuan independence fighters, as well as decades of human rights abuses and racism against Papuans, Reverend Giay said the resistance was understandable.

“The reality here is that they’ve gone through this crisis and violence, and the government is involving military and police to be part of this and we don’t like that.”

Warning against misinformation
Reverend Giay wants his people to get vaccinated, and is urging Papuans to not be dissuaded by misinformation propagated on social media. He suggested outside help was required.

“Many Papuans are dying. We’ve been calling international community for help — maybe the International Red Cross, maybe a humanitarian intervention to convince our people (to get vaccinated).”

This proposal is highly unlikely to be accepted by the Indonesian government which has long restricted outside access to Papua.

Jakarta continues with a business-as-usual approach in the remote eastern region, and is sticking to its plans for Papua to host the Indonesia National Games in October which will bring in many people form other parts of the country.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

A video by a Fiji doctor on adverse side effects of the AstraZeneca vaccine has been misconstrued to support conspiracy theories and myths not supported by any scientific evidence, says Fiji College of General Practitioners president Dr Ram Raju.

He said the college “does not condone any member spreading false information to the public”.

He was commenting critically about the video made by Lautoka-based Dr Baladina Kavoa.

“It is a time for all of our healthcare workers to unite and educate the public about the truth and dispel all fears,”Dr Raju said.

“Doctors are seen to be community leaders who should therefore exercise extreme care and restraint in posting any news on social media.

“The Fiji College of GP’s is fully behind the vaccination programme rolled out by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services and we support their efforts.”

He said they had held many seminars on this subject well before the first covid-19 case was identified in March last year and all the doubts were dispelled.

Vaccinations ‘can save lives’
“At the moment, the covid-19 vaccination is the only method which can save lives,” Dr Raju said.

“It’s just like giving vaccination for a host of other diseases to save lives, like measles, diphtheria, tetanus, pneumonia, hepatitis, etc.”

He said there were some vaccination side effects that were to be expected.

“Getting covid-19 is not a joke and these conspiracy theories need to be laid to rest.

“By vaccinating, you are protecting yourself, your family and the population of Fiji.”

• The Fiji Times did not publish any comment by Dr Kavoa.

Repeka Nasiko is a Fiji Times journalist. Republished with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

What is Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s solution to vaccine hesitancy among Filipinos? Threaten them with jail time.

Duterte, in a meeting with pandemic task force officials yesterday said he would order the arrest of people who refused to get vaccinated.

“Kung ayaw mo magpabakuna, ipaaresto kita at ang bakuna, itusok ko sa puwet mo. Putang ina, bwisit kayo,” said an irate Duterte in edited footage of the meeting aired on television.

(If you don’t want to get vaccinated, I’ll have you arrested then I’ll inject a vaccine into your buttocks.)

“Magpabakuna kayo or ipakulong ko kayo sa selda (Get vaccinated or I’ll jail you in a cell),” he added.

He has also threatened to inject them with the version of anti-parasitic medicine Ivermectin intended for animals.

Duterte said his justification for such a drastic measure as arrest was the state of national emergency he declared over the country due to covid-19 and the dangers posed by unvaccinated people as possible “carriers” of the disease.

He conceded it was a “strong-arm” tactic for which he would find a legal way to enforce.

“I will think it over very hard, legally of course, in pursuance of a policy of crisis, this health issue,” said Duterte.

The President also said he would tell local government officials to “find” those who were unwilling to get vaccinated.

“I will order all the barangay captains to have a tally of all the people who refuse to be vaccinated,” said Duterte, adding that the Department of the Interior and Local Government should supervise the effort.

The Duterte administration is already notorious for its use of barangay lists to keep tabs on suspected drug users and peddlers, many of whom have ended up killed either in police operations or by unknown assailants.

Harshest vaccination policy
If Duterte makes good on his threat, his would probably be the harshest penalty globally for people unwilling to get vaccinated against covid-19 and would likely raise human rights concerns.

In Indonesia, its capital Jakarta announced it would fine people who refused to get vaccinated.

Will coercion and threat work among a majority of Filipinos unsure about getting their jabs? A Social Weather Stations survey conducted from late April to early May found that only three out of 10 Filipinos were willing to get vaccinated.

The top reason for this unwillingness was fear of side effects of vaccines being used — the most common is the Chinese Sinovac — and the belief that the vaccines were not safe or effective, according to SWS.

Lawmakers and civil society organisations have called on the government to ramp up its vaccination information drive to counter vaccine hesitancy.

Pacific Media Watch reports that the Philippines has logged at least 1.35 million infections and over 23,500 deaths since the pandemic began, but under 6 percent of its roughly 108 million residents have been inoculated with at least one dose.

The republic has now secured the delivery of 113 million doses from five vaccine manufacturers: Sinovac with 26 million doses, Sputnik V with 10 million doses, 20 million doses from Moderna, 17 million doses from AstraZeneca — and now a deal for 40 million doses from Pfizer.

Pia Ranada covers the Office of the President and Bangsamoro regional issues for Rappler. While helping out with desk duties, she also watches the environment sector and the local government of Quezon City. Rappler articles are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz