Hundreds of people turned up at the Ministry of Health's screening and drive-through vaccination campaign from 8am to 2pm on Saturday. 

A total of eight sites were designated by the M.O.H. for the vaccination campaign to be carried out. The National Emergency Operations Centre (N.E.O.C.) at around 12pm Saturday advised of the extension of the deadline from 2pm to 5pm for all essential services. 

Vaccines were administered and included booster shoots for those 18 years and above (minimum of three months since completing the last two doses of COVID-19 primary series vaccination), Pfizer vaccination for children aged 12–17 years and the Pediatric Pfizer vaccination for children of 5–11 years old.

While the Ministry's instructions were that the vaccination exercise is specifically drive-through, this did not stop the public who turned up on foot and form queues not far from those in their vehicles.  

Consequently, health workers had to attend to those who walked to the site as well as others in their vehicles. 

The public was advised that they were to comply with the preventions put in place by the M.O.H. These include the following: wearing masks is mandatory (adults and children); must bring your vaccination card; ensure that you or your child has had breakfast and is well hydrated; provide a copy of birth certificate or passport to confirm your vaccination records; wear loose clothing for easy access to the upper arm.

Everyone who got vaccinated had to wait for 15-20 minutes at the vaccination site after they were inoculated, 

The sites included: EPI blue building of the MOH opposite Seb and Rene Store at Moto'otua; Malaefatu Park opposite Tanoa at Sogi; SROS (Scientific Research Organization of Samoa compound) at Papauta; in-front of Government Building at Matagialalua; Vaitele market; SSFA Gym 1 at Tuanaimato; SSFA Multi-Purpose Gym at Tuanaimato; and the Apia Park – car park. 

Members of the public who got tested for COVID-19 were asked to report their results to the M.O.H. The Ministry has also asked for those who have conducted a self-test using the rapid antigen test to register their results. 

“All self-reporting [of results] are confidential.”

Meanwhile, the M.O.H. has confirmed 93 new community cases as of 2pm Friday 25 March 2022. 

This brings the total number of community cases recorded since 17 March to 841 with 814 cases confirmed in Upolu and 27 in Savaii.

The M.O.H. advised that of the 841 confirmed community cases recorded, a total of 827 remain active cases.

Disaggregated data by gender revealed that 58 per cent of confirmed community cases are female with 42 per cent male. 

By age, the data revealed that 54 per cent of confirmed cases were 29 and below; 38 per cent were between the ages of 30 and 59; 6 per cent are those aged 60 and over with 2 per cent unknown.

A total of 14,806 Rapid Antigen Tests have been administered to date. The islands of Manono and Apolima remain COVID-19 free according to the Ministry.