It was a "slip of tongue," Director General corrects reports

By James Robertson 26 November 2019, 3:36PM

The Director General of the Ministry of Health, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, has set the record straight saying there were 60 doses of measles, mumps and rubella vaccines confiscated by the Ministry, not 6,000 as previously reported.

In a statement by the Government Press Secretary, Leausa admitted that he made a “slip of tongue” when addressing media on Monday regarding why a private clinic was stopped from administering the vaccine to those who wanted it.

The doses have been destroyed, as M.O.H could not guarantee their efficacy and whether they had been properly stored in freezers. 

They also retracted the statement that the clinic, the Agape JAL Nurse-led Primary Health Care Services, had been shut down. It is still open, and allowed to provide its regular services to the public, but not administer the vaccine.

According to Leausa, it is not confirmed whether the six vials of the vaccine were stolen from the Ministry of Health or not as alleged by Newshub in an article published Monday.

Newshub has since updated the article with the following retraction: “This story has been edited to reflect that the Samoa Government says that the vaccines were taken from the hospital without official authorisation and whether they were stolen is part of the investigation which is on-going.”

This is a developing story.

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By James Robertson 26 November 2019, 3:36PM

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