Nambawan Super Limited is urging Papua New Guineans to support the Government’s preparation and roll-out of a national vaccination program to combat Covid-19.
Chairman of Nambawan Super, Reg Monagi, said NSL are in line to be vaccinated as soon as possible and advocating for its members to be on the Government’s priority listing for access to vaccination.
“The Government has NSL’s full support for the rollout of the PNG Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee approved Covid19 vaccine,” Mr Monagi said.
“The Fund is concerned for the health and wellbeing of our our staff – but also our members, many of whom are the front line workers of the country, like health workers, teachers, police, correctional officers, and essential service providers like PNG Power and Ports.
“The nation needs these services to continue, as they are the services that enable the rest of the country and wider business community to function effectively,” he said. NSL has been engaging with the wider business community to back and support PNG’s vaccination program.
“Nambawan Super wants business to get back to normal, to protect jobs across the country, and to safeguard member investments through improved economic conditions.
“For this to happen we need people to be able to freely move around and businesses to have the confidence to open and operate.”
“We believe a rapid vaccination program is needed to help restore business confidence and save the lives of many in PNG.”
Mr Monagi is appealing to the community to accept that COVID-19 is real and not dismiss the threat of the new disease that has a case fatality rate of 1-4% globally.
“It is hard to get a true measure on how deadly Covid19 truly is due to different testing and reporting regimes around the world.”
“Throughout 2020 PNG avoided the pandemic’s worst health impacts, but now Covid 19 is spreading widely in our communities.
“We are all seeing growing numbers of deaths, with many in the community touched by the death of loved ones and there are continually growing confirmed positive cases on Covid 19 reported daily.”
Monagi said whilst it an individual’s choice to be vaccinated, he is encouraging members to seek good information about vaccines and remember the risk of extremely rare adverse reactions from the vaccine are much lower than the risk of catching COVID-19 and suffering long-term health impacts or death.
“Social media should not be a substitute for news from trusted, legitimate information sources, like the State of Emergency Controller, Medical Experts and the World Health Organisation.
“Members must take care to double-check the source of information they receive is reliable at this critical time so that they are getting accurate information.”
Whilst the vaccination program is being rolled out, Mr Monagi urged members to stay ahead of the spread of Covid 19 by:
- Maintaining a social distance of 1.5 metres between people
- Wear a mask
- Wash hands regularly
- Cover your cough
