A health worker is preparing to run tests for the coronavirus Covid-19 outside a makeshift clinic at a sports stadium in Port Moresby on April 1, 2021.
Gorethy Kenneth | AFP | Getty Images
Misinformation on social media hampers Papua New Guinea’s vaccination efforts.
Many people are hesitant about being vaccinated because of the spread of false information about the vaccines, even as coronavirus cases are on the rise, according to PNG’s Covid-19 response controller.
According to a joint report from the World Health Organization and the PNG National Health Department, the country reported 1,730 cases and 12 deaths between March 29 and April 4.
Infection cases saw a fresh rise in February and PNG has reported 7,839 cases to date, data from Johns Hopkins University showed. However, the consensus is that the actual number is much higher, hidden by low testing capacity and other logistical issues.
“We have been lulled into a kind of complacency, a false sense of security that we got over that first wave, which we feared,” David Manning, PNG’s Covid-19 national pandemic response controller, told CNBC’s Will Koulouris.
Located to the north of Australia, Papua New Guinea is an island country that is heavily forested and has a population of less than 9 million people.
This, of course, is attributed to hesitation to vaccinate, and you can attribute that to a lack of awareness.
David Manning
National Monitor for Pandemic Response, Papua New Guinea
The National Capital District, home to PNG’s capital, Port Moresby, has the highest number of reported cases, followed by the western county where the infection rate is also on the rise.
A combination of events – funerals, vacations, and school resumption – led to the “continued transmission of the virus,” William Pomat, director of PNG’s Institute of Medical Research, told CNBC last week.
Vaccine hesitation
So-called “vaccine nationalism” has made it difficult for small, developing countries like PNG to access shots to inoculate their populations. Many of them rely on an international vaccination initiative called Covax, but that program’s vaccine supply is facing delays from India, which is also struggling to contain an increase in the number of cases at home.
PNG rolled out a vaccination program last week with approximately 8,000 doses of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 shots donated by neighboring Australia. More doses are reportedly expected from China and India in the coming weeks.
The island nation has vaccinated fewer than 600 people so far, putting it well behind schedule, according to Manning.
“ This is of course attributed to hesitation with vaccinations, and you can attribute that to a lack of awareness – basically information around, if there are any side effects from the vaccine and the false news being spread through social media, ” he said. , adding that there is relatively less pushback from vaccine skeptics in urban areas.
Combating misinformation
Manning said Facebook reached out to PNG asking how the social network could get rid of some of the scattered disinformation, but he didn’t go into the details of that conversation.
Facebook launched a public awareness campaign in PNG this week to help users there learn how to identify and combat health misinformation. It will run for five weeks and includes images and videos in multiple languages.
“For this campaign, we are further focusing our efforts on tackling Covid-19 and vaccine-related misinformation so that Papua New Guinea is able to investigate what they see against official public health sources,” said Mia Garlick, director. public policy for Australia. , New Zealand and Pacific Islands on Facebook said in a statement Wednesday.
“This campaign also complements a prompt we launched in Papua New Guinea last week
provide local users with Covid-19 prevention tips, ”added Garlick.
Stressed healthcare infrastructure
The outbreak puts undue strain on PNG’s already poor healthcare infrastructure.
International organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) have warned of an imminent collapse. Many primary care health workers, already few in number, fall ill from Covid-19, experts say.
“When they get sick, we can’t stand anyone – not just for Covid, but for other diseases and so on,” said Pomat of the Institute of Medical Research.
He explained that Covid tests are only done for those who “might show up (Bee) a health facility when they show symptoms, and those who volunteer to enter. “
Even then, hospitals and medical facilities lack the components needed to perform those tests.
As PNG works with its development partners, including Australia, to secure the supply of more test kits and components, it has also introduced tougher social restrictions. For example, shops have been asked to deny entry to people who do not wear masks, while travel between provinces is strictly regulated.
Manning said the pandemic response needs to be tailored to the coastal communities of PNG and the highlands, where even at the best of times it is difficult to provide health care, police or government services.
“So we have now shifted our focus from a national response to a provincial response, working closely together with the provincial health authorities currently inundated with spikes, ”he said.