Pharmaceutical Warehouse Motootua – Monday 23 August 2021
SAUNOAGA A LE AFIOGA I LE PALEMIA I LE FAALAUILOAINA O FOA’I O TUI PUIPUI MAI I PAAGA A SAMOA
Susuga i le taitai o le sauniga, Ioane Petaia
Afioga i le Minisita o le Soifua Maloloina
Paaga mamae a Samoa – Sui o malo mai fafo
Faauluuluga o le Soifua Malolina ma Matagaluega a le Malo
Ua tatou potopoto i lenei taeao matagofie e sulaina le alofa ma le agalelei o le Atua ona o lana puipuiga malu o Samoa mai faigata o le fa’ama’i ua aafia ai le lalolagi atoa. E momoli atu foi le faafetai i le tapuaiga tatalo a le atunu’u i so’o se fata faitaulaga ua faaauau ai pea le tulaga manuia o iai i tatou. E momoli foi le faamalo i le atunu’u ona o le onosa’ia ma usitaia o vavao e pei ona faaauauina pea i le tau lalata mai ai o le faamai i o tatou atunuu tuaoi.
O le auga o lenei sauniga i lenei taeao, o le momoli lea o la tatou faafetai ia tatou paaga uma ua mafai ona fesoasoani mai ua mafai ai ona tatou maua uma ai tui puipui mo tagata uma o le tatou atunuu mo le faamai o le KOVITI-19. I le taunuu ai o tui puipui e 112,000 mai le malo o Iapani i le vaiaso na te’a nei ua atoa ai le faitau aofai o tui puipui mo o tatou tagata. O le faamoemoe o lenei aso, o le faailoa atu lea ia tatou paaga uma o la tatou faafetai tau ina ia talamasinei ai le agaga fesoasoani o a tatou paaga mo atunuu tau atia’e e i ai Samoa.
O le a ou liliu ane loa i le gagana peretania mo le faamae’aina o le tautalaga ona o loo filogia le nofoaga nei ia tatau paaga mai malo eseese o le lalolagi.
To the Minister of Health
Development Partners/Members of the Diplomatic Corps
CEOs Government Ministries
Ladies and Gentlemen
It has been 17 months since government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. While Samoa remains COVID free, we have felt its impacts in every corner of our life; economies have stalled, we have changed the way we work and interact with our loved ones, and our healthcare systems are stressed. Governments around the world have been forced to implement harsh restrictions on human activity to curb the spread of the virus while we have put restrictions in place to keep the virus out. We continue to follow all preventative measures as advised by our public health authorities like wearing masks, frequent washing of hands and physical distancing and still we are not there.
COVID-19 vaccines, never before developed at such a pace and given emergency approval, is now offering a way to transition out of this phase of the pandemic. Without them, natural herd immunity will not be able to sufficiently restore our societies to its normal status quo. We know that getting vaccinated helps to break the chain of the spread, reduce the variants, protects others and promote assurances that even if you get sick the severity of the disease is minimal. Our Health Care Workers and Public Health Experts persist with the task of educating our people as this helps to build trust in the decision to offer vaccinations, without which, we can never return to normal life.
Samoa would not be where it is at with its vaccination roll out program without the help of many whom I would like to acknowledge as follows:
For access to vaccines, we thank the COVAX Facility and the GAVI Covax AMC, the innovative financing instrument that supports the participation of 92 low – and middle income economies in the COVAX Facility including Samoa. We have received the full allocation of 79,000 doses estimated to cover the 20% of our population.
As well we thank all our partners who have contributed financially to the COVAX facility including U.S.A., U.K., E.U., Japan, Australia, New Zealand which enabled our participation in the COVAX Facility. Additionally, I acknowledge the following for having selflessly provided for our needs while they were waging bigger wars against COVID in their countries;
• The Government of Japan for the latest supply of 112,000 doses delivered through COVAX’s dose sharing arrangement as well as providing the Ultracold chain supply;
• The Government of Australia for 50,000 doses directly supplied to us which bridged the gap in delayed supply deliveries and meeting transportation costs throughout the region under the Pacific Humanitarian pathway. We also acknowledge your valuable contribution to the further development of our e-health system.
• The Government of New Zealand for a requested 25,000 doses of Astra Zeneca through the COVAX dose sharing mechanism and the Pfizer vaccine for our population of children between 12 and 17 years old. We acknowledge also the Technical assistance and information sharing provided to the Ministry of Health.
• Our UN technical partners in particular the WHO for regulatory approvals and standard setting and UNICEF as our procurement agency and management of delivery systems and all other agencies for their support and advocacy of our needs, including contributions to the development of our National Vaccines Deployment Plan under the Resident Coordinator Office and provision of testing equipment
• All our partners that provided public health supplies including PPEs, masks and sanitizers for prevention such as China and New Zealand
• All our partners that provided financial assistance towards addressing our COVID-19 response including the multilateral financial institutions
This COVID-19 Vaccination Roll out with Astra Zeneca would not have been possible without the close collaboration between the Ministry of Health and all other government ministries under the NEOC as well as our development partners under the National Vaccines Coordination Committee. I especially commend the dedication and commitment of our frontline workers in particular our doctors, nurses and all other health workers who have had to handle the vaccination program as well as the health arrangements for all repatriation flights, cargo and fishing vessels.
Our vaccine supply needs are met. Our target will be to vaccinate everyone. It is imperative that we do this to protect our families, people and country.
In closing, on behalf of the government and people of Samoa I wish to thank you all very much for everything you have done as a well-coordinated team and you continue to do so because we may still be some way from the end of our long journey until the COVID-19 is defeated.
Soifua
