A total of $12,750 was approved under unforeseen expenditure for an “investigation” into the “deceased infants” as a result of the measles.
This is outlined in the Public Accounts for Financial Year 2020 at the time the previous Administration was in office.
The report was submitted under the new Administration by Minister of Finance, Mulipola Anarosa Ale-Molioo to the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, in January this year.
Mulipola noted that in accordance with Article 99 of the Constitution, the report to the Speaker is for transmission of the Public Accounts to Parliament for the financial year ending 30 June, 2022 for tabling.
In 2019 the Samoa measles outbreak began and by January 2020, there were over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths, mostly children.
There was a call for a Public Commission inquiry into the measles outbreak but it did not eventuate under the previous administration.
In 2019 Toleafoa Dr Viali Lameko was one of the first Medical Doctors to call for a Commission of Inquiry into the measles epidemic.
Despite being the Vice-Chancellor of the Oceania University of Medicine he was however speaking in a personal capacity as a doctor.
He remembers the panic amongst the public back then.
“There was a lockdown while the Government conducted its mass vaccination of the children and the public. The measles aftermath left more than 5,000 positive cases and 83 deaths as a result.
“This can hardly be easy for anyone who lost their child,” said Toleafoa.
Adding that two nurses implemented the wrong vaccine that killed two children in Savaii in 2018 ignited the refusal for parents to take their children for the MMR vaccination.
