The Chinese Government has donated up to 1800 of its Chinese made Sinopharm Covid 19 vaccine to the New Ireland Provincial Health Authority.
A small handover ceremony took place at the Kavieng General Hospital on Sunday 15th August which was attended by a team of Chinese medical doctors, Staff of the New Ireland Health Authority and the New Ireland Government.
The Chinese medical team consisting of Dr ZhenQui Liu and Sister Yang Jing assured the local medical team and Provincial Government that the Sinopharm Covid 19 vaccine is safe with 10,000 doses already administered in the country. 2000 of these on Papua New Guineans.
Dr ZhenQiu Liu said the vaccine is very effective and can cover up to 20 variants of the Covid19 strains. He said the Vaccine is currently being administered on adults between the ages of 18 to 60 and no severe reactions have been encountered to date.
The Chinese medical team have so far travelled to Mendi, Goroka, Kimbe, Lae and Kokopo with Kavieng being their sixth destination.
The Chinese population living in Kavieng have been anxiously anticipating the arrival of the vaccines and are greatful to finally get vaccinated.
Director for Curative Health services Dr Charles Peni thanked the Chinese medical team and the Chinese Government for the vaccines which will assist them in their continued rollout of Covid 19 vaccinations in the province.
The Chinese vaccines arrived in Papua New Guinea in late June and was first administered on the 13th of July in Port Moresby.
According to health reports over 1.3 billion dozes have been administered in China and 500 million vaccine doses to over 100 countries globally.
