The opening of the Fiafia Park amusement park at Tafaigata will depend on the Ministry of Health (M.O.H.) giving its approval for the entertainment facility to operate in light of the recent prohibition on public gatherings. 

That is the view of the amusement park’s owner and Magic Circus of Samoa frontman, Tupai Bruno Loyale, in a recent interview with the Samoa Observer.

Work at the site has continued without interruption with its owner keen to get the project wrapped up next month, and then wait for the M.O.H. to give the clearance for it to be opened to the public.

“For me, we are just going to hang in there, we’ll get everything ready, when we have the clearance and everything is okay and that it’s okay for public assembly and then we’ll open,” he said. 

“When we know we are ready and we get an okay from the Ministry of Health that everything’s under control and then we open. I mean there’s no reason for us not to open.”

However, parents have expressed concern about the park’s planned Christmas opening, saying the safety of their children during the measles epidemic is paramount.

Kelemete Iuni, a mother of four from Fagali’i, said her children looked forward to the opening of the park but she remains worried about the risks of measles infection.

A father of two whose daughter recently recovered from measles, Iosefa Ausetalia, said protecting their children from measles is their first priority for now. 

The risk of infection from measles is also a worry for Tupai, who has started to get his workers vaccinated, though a large number of them got their vaccination shots in New Caledonia before they moved to Samoa.

“A good percentage was vaccinated in New Caledonia, before we came here just recently and you just have to take every precautions right. And I think we’re doing that already and I’m trying to get everyone as fast as I can to get vaccinated,” he said. “Just my circus group but the locals here, I took them down for vaccination but they weren’t very lucky to have vaccination as they run out of vaccines.”

Between 15-20 workers at the park will get vaccinated with a number going to the nearest medical facility for the injection.