Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) “experts... are saying that the concept of herd immunity, is no longer a concept with the omicron variant” of the coronavirus, says Dr. Aifli John Tufa, the territory’s lead Epidemiologist with the Health Department.

“And the reason why they’re saying that, is because even among a fully vaccinated population that virus is still maneuvering its way through there and finding those who are unvaccinated — and those are the individuals that we are concerned about,” he explained.

Dr. Tufa made the revelation, during the DoH news conference last Friday, responding to a media question on what is the “magic number” for vaccination that American Samoa is aiming for, in order to relax border restrictions for incoming commercial flights.

“The ‘magic number’ you’re talking about is herd immunity… which is right now 90% or more” of local residents being vaccinated, he said, noting that the border restriction issue is a decision of the COVID-19 Task Force.

Dr. Tufa then shared what experts at CDC are saying about the herd immunity concept and pointed out that he “constantly” consults with CDC experts.

He also said that “data now suggests that… full vaccination with a booster [dose], is really protective against severe disease, hospitalization, and death.”

He noted a recent study that came out of California — “looking at the cumulative incidence of coronavirus disease among those who are unvaccinated, vaccinated without a booster, and then vaccinated with a booster.”

Dr. Tufa explained that the study looks at those who are unvaccinated, and there are a lot of the cases occurring among them.

“However, there’s still a number of those who are fully vaccinated and fully vaccinated with a booster that are also getting the disease. They are catching the virus and spreading [it] to others,” he said.

“But what is the difference?” he asked and answered: “The difference is among those who are [fully] vaccinated with a booster. Their chances of severe disease is much, much more decreased.”

“But if you’re vaccinated without a booster — you’re protected but there’s still that chance of you getting the disease and getting hospitalized,” he said.

However, comparing those who are unvaccinated and affected with omicron variant, he said, the chances or risk of hospitalization is much more higher.

“So that’s why we are urging the public that the data is now suggesting, that a booster shot will really, really protect you from severe disease and death,” he declared.

In orther words, “fully vaccinated, you can still catch the virus and get sick, but not as sick. But fully vaccinated with a booster, your chances of severe disease and hospitalization is much, much less,” compared to those who are not vaccinated at all, he pointed out.

He said DoH and ASG are doing their best to provide the public with access to the COVID-19 vaccine and the booster shot.

With the omicron variant confirmed in Hawaii and across the U.S mainland as well as other neighboring Pacific countries, there is local concern about the variant entering the territory with incoming flights from Honolulu.

“We see... that with the flights coming down, the omicron variant is knocking at our door. Actually... it is banging on the door. It wants to come through,” Dr. Tufa said. “And once that virus comes through, we see that it can still maneuver through the fully vaccinated population.”

 “What we’re concerned about is that once it reaches somebody who is unvaccinated — it’s going to cause severe disease and there’s still that possibility of our hospital being inundated with COVID-19 cases,” he stated and reiterated DoH’s strong recommendation for local residents to get fully vaccinate and those already vaccinated, to get the booster shot.

Another media query concerned medical staff — both doctors and nurses — if DoH has sufficient staff, as American Samoa deals with COVID-19 and the new Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) outbreak in the territory as well as all other DoH mandated responsibilities.

DoH’s Clinical Service acting director Dr. Elizabeth Lauvao responded that the department has just hired three new physicians to help out with COVID-19 and DoH’s other clinics.

“But we still need to recruit more, because if all of these physicians are sick, we don’t have a pool of doctors to rely on. And it’s the same thing with nurses — we’re short-staffed with nurses,” she said, adding that DoH still needs to recruit more medical staff.