BY JOHN CHRISMA
THE Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development has urged all students in the country to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as the vaccines are available for roll-out now and in January of next year.
The announcement came as Solomon Islands recently marked the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines in the country.
Making the call on the recent launching of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines at the National Referral Hospital in Honiara, the Deputy Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development (MEHRD), James Bosamata said as we all know, schools were already on Holiday and 2022 academic calendar and will begin on the 24th of January 2022 and the roll out should begin on that date as well.
““However, despite the timing, I understand the vaccination can also begin in our normal clinics in Honiara as well as Guadalcanal and other Provinces, so students especially from 12 to 18 years who do not want to wait before the 24th of January 2022 can go to the normal clinics.
“We’ve established a special committee within the MHMS to discuss and plan out the roll out of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines.
“In fact, it was just unfortunate that the arrival of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines was in November and by then, there were already plans in place for our form 3s and form 5s and form 6s to have their national exams and there after the forms 1, 2 and 4 for their internal exam where we delayed a bit for rolling out the vaccines.
“According to our plan with the MHMS, we will start off with schools in Honiara (first) and then after Honiara will be Guadalcanal province, after Guadalcanal province, it will be the emergency zones and there after the rest of the provinces,” Bosamata said.
Meanwhile, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development, Dr. Franco Rodie, also echoed similar sentiments of thanks to the U.S. government for the support with the Pfizer vaccines.
“As we have seen, COVID-19 affects and kills indiscriminately, and children are not immune to the effects of the virus. These vaccines offer us a wonderful opportunity to preserve the health and lives of our children thus can continue with their education and fulfill the life’s goal,” Dr. Franco Rodie said.
