Samoa has received 10,000 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccines from Australia.
The Australian-manufactured vaccines arrived on an Australian Defence Force flight yesterday.
“Samoa shares a close partnership with Australia, and we are grateful for these vaccines at this critical time as we feel the impacts at home of this global pandemic. We urge all those who are yet to have their vaccine to get vaccinated” said Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa.
“We know that vaccination makes a crucial difference in minimising severe disease and hospitalisations. This is certainly our experience in Australia, where many friends and family members, including within the Samoan-Australian community, continue to be directly affected by this global pandemic” said Australia’s High Commissioner to Samoa Emily Luck.
“Australia is pleased to continue to support Samoa’s response to COVID-19 – support which goes beyond vaccines. We were pleased to recently deliver testing equipment, 50 oxygen concentrators and over 3,500kg of Personal Protective Equipment and consumables to ensure essential supplies are available. The PPE in particular will help keep Samoa’s frontline workers safe – we thank them for their service,” Luck said in a joint statement with the Samoa Government.
Australia has shared more than 60,000 doses with Samoa.
This is in addition to their investment of AUD$130 million to the COVAX facility.
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