The Asian Development Bank has approved US$18.9 million (WST$48.7 million) in grants to help four developing member countries in the Pacific including Samoa roll out safe and effective vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Manila-based regional development bank said in a statement on Monday that the grants to Samoa (US$8 million), Tonga (US$5.5 million), Tuvalu (US$1.5 million) and Vanuatu ($US3.9 million) will support the four countries' COVID-19 vaccination programs for a combined population of almost 600,000 people.

"These countries have incurred considerable costs in preventing COVID-19 transmission and their health systems have been put under extreme pressure," A.D.B. President Masatsugu Asakawa said in a statement.

"These grants will provide a platform to introduce safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines in these countries, strengthen health systems to receive and administer the vaccines, and raise community awareness about vaccination timetables."

Since March this year, the A.D.B. had committed more than US$750 million including co-financing and technical assistance to support Pacific countries' response to the pandemic.

As of 26 April over the cause of 14 days these countries have been reported to have coronavirus cases and deaths. 

The Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas (164 cases cumulated) , Fiji (103 cases cumulated), French Polynesia (18734 cases cumulated), Guam (7923 cases cumulated), New Caledonia (124 cases cumulated), Papua New Guinea (10,835 cumulated cases), Republic of the Marshall Islands (4 cases cumulated), Samoa (1 case cumulated), Solomon Islands (20 cases cumulated), Vanuatu (3 cases cumulated) and Wallis and Futuna (451 cases cumulated) 

According to the World Health Organization, Vanuatu has three confirmed COVID-19 cases while Samoa has had one with Tuvalu and Tonga recording no cases thus far. 

The announcement of the grant assistance by the A.D.B. coincides with the start of the caretaker Government's mass vaccination programme in Samoa on Monday, after the Ministry of Health oversaw the administering of the AstraZeneca vaccine targeting the country's front line workers last week.

The vaccine was delivered on 9 April with the country getting 24,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine under the COVAX Facility as part of the global partnership's effort to deliver at least two billion doses.