The Australian Government’s assistance to the Samoa Government continues, this time supplies of more than 80,000 rapid antigen tests have arrived in the Country.
This was confirmed in a post on the Australian Government’s official Facebook page announcing the arrival of 86,000 Australian-funded RATs into Samoa.
“This shipment will assist the Government of Samoa to continue important testing for cases in the community.
Australia remains committed to supporting Samoa’s COVID-19 response as we face the pandemic together.”
Last week, Australia and UNICEF partnered up to offer assistance to Samoa’s fight against COVID-19 with the donation of over 100,000 Pfizer vaccines over the next three months, starting with the first batch of 70,200 doses delivered today to the Government.
A joint statement issued earlier, indicated that Australia’s aid of vaccines amounts to 111,150 doses of Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines to Samoa, through a partnership with UNICEF, to procure vaccines for partner countries in the Pacific by the end of 2022.
“Today, 70,200 doses were delivered to support Samoa’s national vaccine rollout, particularly for booster doses. Samoa is currently experiencing community transmission of COVID-19 for the first time, making the arrival of these vaccines all the more important.”
Deputy Director General, Tagaloa Robert Thomsen says the onset of Community transmission in Samoa has accentuated the importance of vaccinations as key to addressing the challenges of COVID 19.
“We are thankful to the Australian Government and UNICEF for the delivery of these doses, which will greatly support our booster program.
“We acknowledge the assistance of Australia and all our other development partners to ensure the efficacy and coverage of our COVID-19 response as we continue to work together to save lives.”
