Fiji gets 100,000 vaccine doses from India, the World Tourism Organization wants the international community to ensure SIDs have access to Covid-19 vaccines and a former Tuvalu prime minister calls for the more opposition to nuclear waste transhipment.
Photo: AFP
Fiji gets 100,000 vaccine doses from India
Fiji has received 100,000 Covid-19 vaccines from the Indian government.
In a tweet, Fiji's High Commission in New Delhi said the vaccines were from India's Serum Institute under the GOIs Vaccine Maitri initiative.
High Commissioner, Kamlesh Prakash, said Fiji was expected to receive more vaccines from India as Delhi mounts the world's biggest vaccination drive.
The Fiji government said 600,000 of its population need to be vaccinated against Covid-19.
Earlier this month, 12,000 doses of the Asta/Zeneca vaccine arrived in Fiji with 6,000 frontline workers and those vulnerable receiving the first jab.
Tourism body wants islands to get vaccine access
The World Tourism Organization wants the international community to ensure small island developing states have access to Covid-19 vaccinations.
With tourism a leading employer and economic pillar for many of the small states, the United Nations agency said pledges to ensure 'nobody was left behind' had to be backed up with firm actions.
It said that given the relatively small size of the populations in the small island states the cost of mass vaccinations will be minimal compared to the potential benefits of restarting tourism.
Moreover, given tourism's wide value chain and proven ability to create opportunity for all, the impact of rolling out mass vaccinations and allowing tourism to restart, will go beyond economic benefits.
The WTO's secretary-general, Zurab Pololikashvili, said by sharing vaccines with Small Island Developing States, the international community could help accelerate the restart of tourism.
Former Tuvalu PM calls for opposition to nuclear waste transhipment
Tuvalu's former prime minister, Enele Sopoaga, has called for the Pacific Islands region to strongly oppose transhipment of nuclear waste.
Sopoaga said movement of nuclear materials and plastics through the Pacific threatened the right of the region's indigenous communities to have access to their ocean environments.
Recognising the huge extent of plastic litter through the Pacific, the Tuvalu MP said pollution of nuclear materials was also very dangerous and deserved attention.
"We need to be very careful and concerned that the trans-shipment of these nuclear waste and so on is urgently stopped, so that there's no more trans-shipment through the oceans."
Sopoaga said the future of Pacific communities depended on a clean and healthy ocean.
Three charged ahead of Samoan elections
Samoa Police have charged three men alleged to be representatives of a candidate in next week's general elections.
The Samoa Observer newspaper reported the trio were facing charges of general forgery and forging documents relating to pre-poll ballots.
The report said the men were from Vaiusu village and they were supporters of candidate Faumuina Wayne Fong, who was running for the Faleata. 2 constituency under the Fa'atuatua i le Atua Samoa ua Tasi party.
The candidate confirmed the charges, but would not comment further as the matter was with party lawyers.
Faumuina said the case would appear for mention on 29 April.
The Electoral Commissioner, Faimalomatumua Mathew Lemisio, said suspicions were raised when it was discovered multiple pre-polling forms were registered to one phone number.
"We noticed that there was a single number in about more than ten forms, and so we contacted the number but I think as soon as they realised it was the Office's number they didn't answer."
All three men had been released on bail.
American Samoa Governor calls for holistic approach to infrastructure
The Governor of American Samoa, Lemanu Peleti Mauga, has called on the US Congress to take a holistic approach to planned infrastructure improvements.
In a virtual House Natural Resources hearing he said the US must tailor any funding in the Biden Government's Build Back Better infrastructure project to suit the real needs of American Samoa.
Lemanu said healthcare infrastructure was a top priority in American Samoa, especially given it was isolated, with an inferior hospital, while coping with the impact of a closed border due to the pandemic.
He said infrastructure spending needed to reach beyond just the LBJ Hospital.