Misinformation about the Covid-19 vaccine is in part being blamed for slowing uptake rates in Wallis and Futuna, making it difficult for the territory to reach its targets of immunising 70 percent of the population.
Testing for Covid-19 at a high school in Mata'Utu, the capital of Wallis and Futuna. Photo: Supplied
18,000 doses were rushed from France to Wallis in March, when its first community outbreak infected 67 people in five days.
Within two weeks of the first case, up to 585 people a day received a jab, and within a month almost half the adult population was inoculated.
However, for the past month, the uptake has trickled to at times only a handful of individuals a day.
The number of people taking the second Moderna jab has also plummeted.
According to the latest figures, 51.5 percent of adults have received at least one jab.
The hesitancy is attributed in part to misleading online posts, advice from relatives living outside the territory and lack of information.
A total of 434 people contracted the virus and seven of them died.
The response to the Wallis outbreak was the swiftest and most comprehensive of any French-administered territory.
A two-month lockdown imposed in March was eased at the start of this week, but curfews remain and schools as well as restaurants are still closed.