Dr Fong says they do not see any necessity in making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for eligible children

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says they do not see any necessity in making COVID-19 vaccinations mandatory for eligible children as the uptake has been really good.

Some parents have asked why vaccination for the eligible students is not mandatory as it will give more protection to everyone including other students in the classrooms and all the family members when they return home.

Fijivillage raised this issue with Doctor Fong.

He says the Ministry of Health wants the parents to take responsibility for the decision to get their children vaccinated.

Doctor Fong also says parents have contacted them to get the vaccines out for the children while some children have also told their parents that they want to get vaccinated.

88.5% of the adult target population and 20,932 children between the ages of 15 to 17 years are now fully vaccinated.

96.8% of the adult target population and 32,714 children between the ages of 15 to 17 have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Meanwhile, the first consignment of Pfizer vaccines arrived on an Air New Zealand flight yesterday.

The NZ High Commission says the NZ Government is proud to share Pfizer vaccines with Fiji to help protect 12 to 14-year-olds against COVID-19.

The vaccines will be rolled out as early as next week.