The global Covid pandemic and the urgency of citizens getting themselves fully vaccinated as the best protection from catching COVID-19, especially the variants posed by Delta and Omnicon, clearly weights heavily on the Solomon Islands government and the still low vaccination rates has seen the Prime Minister himself speak repeatedly about the threat to the country from Covid-19.
To counter misinformation about vaccinations much has been done by the government and the local MHMS to counter false information and to give accurate information, but one gathers some misinformation still persist and religious leaders might be further encouraged to counter whatever misinformation might still pertain.
Access to vaccinations is available and perhaps more needs to be done on awareness because plainly without a higher vaccination rate the Solomon Islands will remain vulnerable to the Covid virus while allowing deadly variants to emerge and ricochet across the country.
While the health care system at home is in need of improvement, I do not believe that Solomon islanders generally do not trust the government to provide legitimate health care.
The government has not been slow to assuage concerns about the available vaccines and the Prime Minister was seen in a photo taking his vaccination jabs when the first batch of Astra Venica vaccines were first received.
If hesitancy in getting vaccinated and misinformation is still the root cause of the low vaccination rates, then I would urge all measures are taken to give out truthful news, coupled with news as to how the Covid variants like Delta and Omnicon are now widespread regionally.
Yours sincerely
Frank Short
