Nauru vaccinates entire adult population

Nauru's Covid-19 vaccination campaign has exceeded the government's expectations.

A government release says 7,392 people, or 108 percent of the adult population have received the first dose.

This exceeds population estimates of 6,812 adults living in Nauru based on figures in a 2019 census, as stated by the Bureau of Statistics.

However, the government is confident it has vaccinated all of its adult population aged 18 years and over for this first part of a two-shot vaccination.

With a comparatively young population, this represents 63 per cent of the estimated total population on Nauru having received the vaccine.

The four-week rollout of the first dose of AstraZeneca vaccine to adults in Nauru ended last Friday.

Nauru is one of the few countries in the world remaining free of Covid-19.

But the National Coronavirus Taskforce said that with every arriving traveller, the risk of the coronavirus entering Nauru remained, while "recent events in PNG, Fiji and India have shown how quickly the situation can change".

Taskforce Chairman, Dr Kieren Keke, has warned that Nauru cannot be complacent and that the country needs to further protect its people by getting vaccinated.

Regarding the vaccination programme, the Health Minister, Isabella Dageago, stated in Parliament, "our prayers have been answered".

Dageago said that "Nauru has been blessed with a supply of vaccine, enough to enable us to immunise 100 percent of our adult population".

She said many countries were struggling to secure supply of the vaccine, so the government was grateful that everyone on Nauru has made the most of the opportunity given to it.