The French Polynesian government has delayed applying a new law that makes Covid-19 vaccinations mandatory.
The law, adopted in August, was due to come into force at the end of this week but President Edouard Fritch now said it will not be applied before December 23rd.
The local law has been approved by France's highest administrative court.
The President of French Polynesia, Edouard Fritch Photo: AFP
Anyone working in healthcare or with the public will need to get inoculated or be fined $US1,700.
President Fritch again urged the public to get vaccinated as there are concerns another Covid-19 wave could hit the territory after the virus claimed 450 lives in August and September.
In a separate news conference, the vice-president Tearii Alpha said he wasn't vaccinated but had a particular biological state, which he declined to specify.
At Alpha's wedding in August, both Fritch and Alpha defied Covid-19 regulations but the two and other leaders were not sanctioned.
At the weekend, almost 1,000 people took to the streets of Papeete in the latest weekly protest against the vaccination law.
A delegation representing the group Te Reo Mana O Te Nunaa, the Maohi Protestant Church and the nuclear test veterans was received by government ministers.