Archives 2021

Media Release                                                                   

COVID-19 Vaccination

April 14th 2021

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is announcing that, based on the high uptake of COVID-19 vaccine by the public, the current phase of the vaccination campaign is expected to end by Saturday 17^th April if not earlier. The target for this phase of the campaign was to vaccinate 50,000 people, and to date 27,705 people in Fiji have received their first dose of the vaccine, with 9,932 people vaccinated on Tuesday 13^th April alone.

To find the nearest location where you can get registered and vaccinated, please see the daily update on the Ministry’s Facebook page and in the Fiji Sun newspaper. For those in the Suva area, a week-long COVID-19 vaccination drive is underway at the Vodafone Arena.

To register online please visit vra.digitalfiji.gov.fj and register with your birth registration number or citizenship number, or permit number (if a non-citizen), and a valid photo ID.

For those who have registered in the past and are yet to get vaccinated, you may go to your nearest COVID-19 vaccination site with your registration reference number and valid photo identification to get vaccinated. A valid photo ID may be a Joint FNPF/FRCA card, voter registration card, driver’s license, passport, or a valid student ID.

You can also register at the vaccination sites if you have not been registered yet. Just bring a valid photo ID.

Vaccination is open to all individuals living in Fiji aged 18 and over, but we are especially urging those in the following target groups to get vaccinated:

• Frontline staff at the borders
• Healthcare workers (including those in private healthcare)
• Police and military officers
• Tourism and hotel workers
• Civil servants
• People over the age of 60
• People with medical conditions that increase the risk of severe disease if they do get infected with COVID-19. You will fall into this category if you are currently attending a Special Outpatients Department (SOPD) clinic with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, or similar with a private healthcare provider. This includes those with diabetes, asthma, and heart conditions.

Media Release                                                                   

COVID-19 Vaccination

April 8th 2021

Fiji’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services shares the position of the United Kingdom Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency and the European Medicines Agency that, for most people, the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine’s effective protection against COVID-19 far outweigh the risks.

This follows investigations by British and European regulators into an association between the AstraZeneca vaccine and thrombosis with thrombocytopenia, a rare blood clotting disorder. After the review of data of millions of people who have received the vaccine, this unusual blood clotting event has been plausibly identified as an extremely rare but serious side effect, affecting an estimated 4 to 10 people out of every million people, with death in estimated 25% of cases.

The Ministry is developing new clinician guidance and standard operating procedures to manage the rare but serious risk associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine to accompany its ongoing administration to frontline workers and vulnerable members of the general public. In line with the most recent evidence, the Ministry is recommending that individuals who have received their first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine take the second dose.

The symptoms of the rare side effect can occur from 4 days to 28 days after receiving the first dose of the vaccine and are more severe than the mild symptoms of fever, chills, and headache that are expected within two days of the first dosage. The new clinician guidance will aid healthcare professionals in identifying the symptoms of the rare side effect and allow members of the public to access a dedicated line to report severe symptoms.

“With tens of millions of doses administered around the world, we have a clear picture of the low risks of this vaccine against the proven benefits. The highest reported likelihood of this rare but serious side effect from the AstraZeneca vaccine is 1 in 100,000. The likelihood of dying from the coronavirus, on the other hand, is nearly 2 in 100. To put those numbers into perspective, receiving this vaccine is safer than riding in a car or a bus, or even walking down a set of stairs. Meanwhile, COVID is one of the deadliest pathogens on the planet,” said the PS for Health and Medical Services, Dr James Fong. “I’ve been vaccinated and so has my family. I encourage all eligible Fijians to do the same. Register now, and come forward to be vaccinated when it is your turn. We may not have community transmission of the coronavirus, but that’s no excuse to be complacent about protecting ourselves. Morally and medically, it’s the right thing to do.”

Given the low incidence rate of the potential side effects, the new guidance and SOPs will also accompany the rollout of the vaccines to members of the public in the next phase of Fiji’s vaccine deployment. Globally, most of the rare side effect events have been reported in younger women. However, more data is needed to determine if age and gender are contributing factors. Out of an abundance of caution, this guidance will apply to women and men of all age groups.

Media Release                                                                   

COVID-19 Update

April 8th 2021

The Ministry of Health and Medical Services is announcing 1 new border quarantine case of COVID-19.

This is a 56-year-old female who travelled to Fiji from Sacramento, California, USA, arriving in Nadi on flight FJ1811 from Los Angeles on March 25th. She returned a weak positive test result during routine testing while undergoing 14-day quarantine at a government supervised border quarantine facility in Nadi. A weak positive test result indicates there was little viral material in the sample. It is known that non-infectious fragments of the virus can remain detectable, and cause a positive test result long after the infection has passed, and even after previous negative test results; it is unlikely that this person is currently infectious. Therefore, this is considered a historical case of COVID-19. However, she has been transferred to the isolation ward at Lautoka hospital, and management of this case will follow our standard protocol for positive cases.

With this latest case there are now 2 active cases admitted at the Lautoka hospital isolation unit. And it has been 355 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine on April 18^th 2020.

Fiji has had 68 cases in total, with 64 recoveries and 2 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19^th 2020. The last 50 cases have been international travel associated cases detected in border quarantine.

A total of 40,300 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 262 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 1915 tests per week over the last 2 weeks.

There are currently 872 people who have recently arrived from overseas undergoing mandatory 14 day quarantine in government supervised border quarantine facilities.

For more information please visit http://www.health.gov.fj/covid-19-updates/

Media Release                                                                   

COVID-19 Update

April 6th 2021

There are 0 new cases of COVID-19 to report in this update.

There remains 1 active case admitted at the Lautoka hospital isolation unit. It has been 20 days since the last border quarantine case was reported, and 350 days since the last case was detected outside border quarantine on April 18^th 2020.

Fiji has had 67 cases in total, with 64 recoveries and 2 deaths, since our first case was reported on March 19^th 2020. The last 49 cases have been international travel associated cases detected in border quarantine.

A total of 39,378 COVID-19 laboratory tests have been conducted, with a daily average of 279 tests per day over the last 7 days, and a weekly average of 1915 tests per week over the last 2 weeks.

There are currently 936 people who have recently arrived from overseas undergoing mandatory 14 day quarantine in government supervised border quarantine facilities.

For more information please visit http://www.health.gov.fj/covid-19-updates/

The next scheduled update will be on Thursday April 8th.