The last update by the Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) on its COVID-19 vaccination rollout and how many people amongst Samoa’s eligible population have been inoculated was over two weeks ago.

And there has been no further updates by the Ministry on its social media pages on the country’s vaccination coverage since 16 February, so the only information we can rely on for now is over 2 weeks old.

Now we hear American Samoa has 63 cases of community transmission after the first case was detected last Monday. The American territory requested U.S. federal government support to deal with the outbreak with a federal team of over 50 expected in American Samoa this week. The community transmission is believed to have come from a health worker, who processed passengers who flew into Pago Pago on 27 January flight from Honolulu, and infected family members upon returning home.

So we hope the two-week blackout on social media on Samoa’s vaccination coverage does not mean officials at the M.O.H. have clocked off, especially with the next batch of repatriation flights scheduled for this month from Auckland, New Zealand as well as Fiji arriving over the following 3 weeks.

Going back to our vaccine coverage, at the last count on 15 February (which was posted a day later on 16 February), a total of 118,708 people or 97.4 per cent of the eligible population had received the first dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine with 108,947 or 89.4 per cent of the eligible population fully vaccinated. For Pfizer a total of 27,281 had received the first dose with 21,342 (of children 12-17 years of age, pregnant and lactating mothers) fully vaccinated.

But when do we expect the most recent update from the M.O.H. on the country’s vaccination coverage? Or has the weekly updates stopped because the Ministry has run out of COVID-19 vaccines or maybe because the big boss is out of town?

Some of these questions might sound annoying, but we know that the members of the public are also asking the same questions, because right now there is an absence of a consistent flow of critical information to keep the public in the loop as well as to assure them that their Government is on top of the biggest global public health crisis in the history of mankind.

Over a week ago authorities confirmed that a faulty public health freezer had ruined an unspecified amount of COVID-19 vaccine doses. 

Prime Minister Fiame Naomi Mata’afa later confirmed that a portion of the 10,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by the Australian Government were ruined due to the faulty freezer.

The M.O.H. did a report on the faulty freezer which has been passed on to the Cabinet for its deliberations and course of action. To this day the public is yet to know of the outcome of the Cabinet’s discussions – that is if the Ministry’s report did go before the Cabinet – and whether action will be taken to address the issue.

Delays in getting the faulty freezer fixed could have long-term implications for the Ministry’s vaccine rollout programme, especially its objective to reach 100 per cent of the eligible population vaccinated. 

Donor countries and organisations would hesitate donating COVID-19 vaccine doses to Samoa, knowing the drugs remain susceptible. 

Also just over 10 per cent of the eligible population (for the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine) are yet to be fully vaccinated, which affords them protection against the virus of between 55 to 70 per cent and increases when one gets fully vaccinated. 

There is alot hinging on how Samoa plays its cards on its vaccination rollout and booster shots programme, as it could determine if the country is ready to reopen its borders again to international travellers.

Let’s hope in the next couple of days we get a clear picture from the Ministry and relevant authorities on the status of Samoa’s vaccination coverage and the faulty freezer facility at the national hospital Moto’otua.