The nation’s mass vaccination rollout has reached Sagaga No. 3 and No.4 as the count nears 33,000, the Ministry of Health’s latest figures show. 

On Monday morning, updated figures show that a total of 32,627 residents of Samoa have received their COVID-19 vaccine.

As of May 28, a total of 17,943 males and 14,684 females were administered with AstraZeneca.

The vaccine requires a second dose to be administered 8-12 weeks after the first, in order to ensure protection against the coronavirus.

For this week, vaccination will be administered in the villages of Sagaga 3 and Sagaga 4. They are, Aleisa Sisifo, Leauvaa Tai, Leauvaa Uta; Levi, Salepoua’e and Nono’a Saleimoa; Utualii and Tufulele.

Last Thursday, the Health Director General, Leausa Dr. Take Naseri, said the nation’s vaccination rollout programme is running smoothly and there are no reports of complications from the vaccine.

Administered by health officials, the mass rollout started in April and has been ongoing, moving from two constituencies to another each week.

“In truth, our vaccination programme continues to run well and no one in our view has encountered major complications or anything else,” Leausa said in the National Emergency Operation Centre’s (N.E.O.C.) latest press conference last week.

“And when there is something that raises questions, we review and often find that the occurrence is very far from the effects of the vaccine.”

The vaccination sites will not be open on Tuesday which is the Independence Day public holiday, otherwise it will be open from 9am to 6pm.

Additional fixed sites are at the Fugalei Market, the Red Cross Headquarters in Tuanaimato, Health Centre at Matagialalua, the Samoa Tourism Authority Fale on Beach Road, the Ah Liki Bluebird Warehouse in Vaitele-tai, the Samoa National Provident Fund Vaitele and the National Kidney Foundation at Motootua.

Those who will not be vaccinated include: women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, people who are bedridden, less than 18 years old and those over 85 years old (optional).

The list also prohibits those with a high fever (above or equal to 38 degrees), weak immune systems, including those who have been on steroids for a long time, and those receiving active cancer treatment, and people with bleeding disorders, and a known history of severe allergic reactions to vaccines including skin rash, swelling of the throat and eyes and breathing difficulty.

With no active COVID-19 cases, the country aims to vaccinate 98 per cent of its eligible population before it can consider reopening its borders to the outside world.