Vaccines

The team of two vaccinators was unharmed, police said.

Local polio vaccination teams are often targeted by anti-vaccine militants, some of whom claim vaccination is a Western plot to sterilise Muslims.

Pakistan and Afghanistan are the only countries where polio, which in severe cases can be fatal or leave patients paralysed, remains endemic.

The two gunmen had been hiding near a small water channel before opening fire on the guards from a "very close range", local police said.

Another 120 received theirs on Monday 8 August, totaling 217 children.

President Lionel Aingimea said of this 217 total, 11 children received their first dose (89 per cent) and 206 children received their second dose (58 per cent) and are therefore fully vaccinated.

“Children who have taken their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine three weeks ago are now eligible to take the second dose.”

Millions of people suffer from symptoms of long Covid, doctors estimate. Now, early research is offering some clues about whether vaccinations might help.

The deployment of the three vaccines is part of the US$29.7 million System Strengthening for Effective Coverage of New Vaccines in the Pacific Project, which is supporting the introduction of these vaccines in Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Financed by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the vaccine project was originally established to support the procurement of rotavirus, pneumococcal conjugate, and human papilloma virus vaccines through the United Nations Children's Fund.