COVID-19 is a deadly killer, make no mistake about it.
Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare in his nationwide address Monday said the best way to protect yourself, your family, and your communities from COVID-19 is to get vaccinated.
In a Government statement, Prime Minister Sogavare said the vaccines we are using are effective against the Delta Variant of COVID-19 that is driving the new surge of infections around the world.
He said the vaccines have proven to reduce hospitalization by 92 percent and reduce chances of infection by almost 70 percent.
“Non-vaccinated people have no protection at all. Therefore, in-order for us to protect our youths and children below 18 years of age, everyone above 18 years of age must be vaccinated,” he said.
The Prime Minister also highlighted that the target population for the nationwide vaccination strategy is 414,500 and these are citizens 18 years and over.
“If the whole 414,500 adults in our country are vaccinated, this constitutes about 64% of our population which would offer some level of protection to the other 36 percent of our population that cannot be vaccinated,” he said.
Prime Minister Sogavare said citizens that cannot be vaccinated rely on those that can be vaccinated for their protection and for their lives.
“If we do not vaccinate, we put at risk not only our lives and the lives of our families, but we put at risk the lives of another 235,000 plus Solomon Islanders that cannot be vaccinated because they are under 18 years of age,” he said.
The Prime Minister urged all citizens 18 years and over to take the COVID-19 vaccination seriously.
“Do not wait until there is an outbreak – do it now. Visit the vaccination centres right now or go to the vaccination centres when our vaccination teams come to your areas,” he said.
Prime Minister Sogavare said citizens should not wait for community transmission to occur before they get vaccinated.
“Do not wait for a loved one to pass away from COVID-19 before you decide. If that happens, it is already too late to stop the spread and already too late to vaccinate,” he said.
