The Papua New Guinea government will not allow the use in the country of any vaccine to treat the covid-19 coronavirus which has not been approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO), an official says.

National Pandemic Response Controller David Manning issued a new order this week requiring that no covid-19 vaccination or unapproved pharmaceutical intervention should be provided to anybody in the country.

“The new measure also states that no vaccine testing or trials for the covid-19 shall occur in PNG,” he said.

The order came into effect Thursday.

It was in response to news reports that 48 Chinese employees of a PNG-based company had been vaccinated with the SARS-COV-2 vaccine on August 10.

[Asia Pacific Reports that Asia Times named the company as the China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) – which controls a major nickel mine in the country, Ramu NiCo. RNZ Pacific also reports on the “vaccine diplomacy” stir caused by the Chinese company’s action.]

Manning said they would investigate the report and whether the 48 people mentioned had been vaccinated in China before arriving.

WHO does not recognise vaccine
He said WHO did not recognise the vaccine and anyone using the vaccine would be penalised under the legislation.

He also said the Covid-19 National Control Centre would investigate the mining company in PNG.

Manning said a flight from China carrying employees of a Chinese mining company in PNG had to be cancelled because of the vaccination allegations.

He said because of the lack of information on the issue, flights from China would be stopped “in the best interest of the people as authorities investigate the allegations of vaccinations”.

Meanwhile, National Control Centre Incident Manager Dr Esorom Doani said they were working on a standard operating procedure for children who tested positive.
There are three cases.

A 10-year-old boy was confirmed with covid-19 on April 16 and a two-year-old was confirmed on August 7 both in Western.

The third was a two-year-old case tested at the Port Moresby General Hospital after the child was brought in with respiratory problems on Aug 12.

Test results positive
“The test results came back positive. But the mother did not leave any address details. So a doctor from the Port Moresby General Hospital took it upon himself to find them.

“He managed to find them at Korobosea. The mother and child will be brought in tomorrow [Friday]. The mother will also be swabbed before they are taken to the Rita Flynn Isolation Centre.

“We will also start contact tracing for the two-year-old’s family tomorrow [Friday],” he said.

The country’s covid-19 cases now stand at 361 – 198 of them are recovered cases and 163 are active.

The cases are from 11 provinces out of the 21 provinces, including the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

Reports from The National newspaper are republished by the Pacific Media Centre with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

COMMENTARY: By Scott Waide in Lae

Just into the fourth month of 2019, and resource projects in Papua New Guinea have come under scrutiny.

Early last month, senior ministers of government, including Petroleum Minister Fabian Pok, traveled to Komo in Hela for meetings with landowners of the gas project.

After 15 years, there is some progress. Or at least that’s the positive spin to it.

READ MORE: O’Neill loses in high stakes battle for control of US$1.4b PNGSDP

There appears to be some indication that royalties locked away due to legal battles and tangled by bureaucratic red tape were going to be paid – but only after landowner identification processes.

Finance Minister James Marape told the media three months ago, that K300 million (NZ$132 million) is parked at the Central Bank ready to be released. But landowners or people claiming to be landowners had to follow a process of “landowner identification” in order to be paid the money.

There is some hope of an end to disputes. However, the final settlement is still a long way off. That’s the reality. Many of the elders died waiting for the royalty payments they were promised.

Since becoming a new province, there is still a lot that needs to be ironed out. The Hela provincial government still has to work its way through layers of bureaucratic processes that continue to favour the Southern Highlands in terms of royalty payments from the gas project.

It’s all that and a lot more.

Background to complexities
Understanding the background to the complexities of the resource project in Hela means going back some 20 years when oil extraction ended and the promise of Papua New Guinea becoming the Saudi Arabia and Dubai of the Pacific faded as the crude oil taps shut off.

It is against that backdrop that the neighbouring Enga province is now looking at the Porgera mine’s renegotiation through a wardens’ hearing. This is a process that is reopened after the end of a mining lease.

Landowners and the Enga provincial government are looking at a bigger slice of revenues and benefits.

What did they get over the last 30 years? That’s a point of contention for pro-mining and anti-mining proponents.

What is visible to the international community is the campaigns against alleged atrocities committed against local people in Porgera and the desperate push by locals to get what little crumbs they can from a mine that has existed for 30 years on their land.

For the first time in more than three decades, it appears the national government is speaking a different language: One that calls for greater benefits into government coffers and landowner pockets.

This rhetoric has come after 30 years of gold extraction, 500 shipments of liquefied natural gas and billions of dollars worth of round log exports.

Production-based tax
In Lae, during the opening of the Central Bank’s Currency Processing Facility, Deputy Prime Minister Charles Abel talked about a production-based tax. Instead of a profit-based tax for resource projects which will be signed from 2019 onwards.

The general thinking from the national government is that a profits based tax can be deceptive leaving the government with very little to collect if a mining company declares losses or breaks even.

While Porgera discusses mine benefits, a similar process is happening in Madang. Triggered by an agreement between the Chinese and the PNG Governments, Ramu Nickel’s expansion is in discussions ongoing between the government and the developer.

The processes are long and drawn out. The risk is that without proper representation, landowners could be left with another raw deal for several more decades before another opportunity for renegotiation presents itself.

Scott Waide’s blog columns are frequently published by Asia Pacific Report with permission. He is also EMTV deputy news editor based in Lae.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz