President Remengesau will” gladly” take the COVID-19 vaccine

President Tommy Remengesau Jr. said in order to persuade the community to take the COVID-19 vaccine, he is willing to be the first ones to take it.
“If it helps that I’ll be one of the first ones to get it, I will gladly do it.” Remengesau said.
However, Remengesau said he would follow the MOH guidelines that the vaccine will be first administered to the priority population and then he will get in line to take the vaccine.
But when needed to ensure confidence to the community on the safety of the vaccine, he will be taking it.
Remengesau encouraged the community to take it as it will save lives.
Palau is getting ready with a vaccination plan when the vaccine becomes available and sent here via its relationship with the United States through Operation Warp Speed.
Operation Warp Speed’s goal is to produce and deliver 300 million doses of vaccines with the initial doses available by January 2021, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Palau is part of the 64 jurisdictions which will get vaccines from the program.
“Jurisdictions are empowered to direct where vaccines will go and we will deliver it where they tell us,” said Operation Warp Speed Chief Operating Officer Army Gen. Gus Perna in a statement on Nov. 27.
“Simply said, but very difficult to execute – we are asking jurisdictions to do the microplanning for distributing the vaccine down to actual administration – that is shots in arms,” Perna said.
The Ministry of Health earlier said it will request 30,000 doses of the vaccine, which is enough to vaccinate over 80 percent of the population. With Palau’s small population, health officials are also hopeful that the entire population will be vaccinated.
Health officials said while Pfizer vaccine might not be suitable for Palau due to the cold chain requirements, the ministry is also working closely with the US to plan for logistics of the Pfizer vaccine.