About 20 percent of Palau’s 18,000 population have received two doses of the Moderna vaccine, still leading the United States on coronavirus vaccination statistics, according to the Ministry of Health (MOH).
“MOH is pleased to announce that over 8, 000 vaccines have been administered to residents of Palau, and we’ve fully vaccinated (2 doses) over 20% of our adult population,” the press release said yesterday.
Today vaccination will resume with the help of the visiting team from the US Department of Health & Human Services (US HHS) and Department of State who arrived on March 7, 2021, to assist the nation in its COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign.
This month, the US also has delivered 5,400 more doses of the Moderna vaccine to Palau. As of this month, Palau has received a total of 14,600 doses of vaccine from the US that cover 7,300 people or at least half of the countries entire population.
The MOH also announced that 16 of the personnel from the US did not have to undergo 14-day quarantine and ensures that protocols have been followed.
“Due to strict measures taken prior to arrival into Palau, the 14-day mandatory quarantine requirements have been waived for these travelers to enable them to carry out critical tasks in the best interest of the Republic,” MOH said.
MOH also said the US health officials have been fully vaccinated and tested negative of COVID-19 at least 72 hours prior to departure. Another test conducted upon their arrival also showed they are negative from COVID-19.
MOH said it is prioritizing groups including the elderly, homebound patient caregivers, individuals with underlying medical conditions, and other essential during the resumption of the vaccination.
The announcement also said that MOH has started scheduling other essential workers including utilities, communications, finance, legal, education, food and agriculture, grocery stores, public transportation, food service, law, energy, housing construction, and businesses in the tourism industry.
20 percent of Palau’s population fully vaccinated
