Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — Continuing their effort to ramp up vaccinations in the territory, American Samoa’s COVID-19 Task Force is offering up their latest incentive to residents to GET VACCINATED. Task Force Chairman Acting Governor Talauega Eleasalo Ale announced during last Friday’s press conference that starting today, Monday, August 30th until October 15th, “all residents that are eligible for their first and / or second shots can visit any of the official COVID-19 vaccine distribution sites and receive $100 per dose/ shot — so long as doses are administered within the limited time period.”

This comes just after it was announced that everyone in American Samoa from 12 years old and above will be required to be fully vaccinated by Oct. 15.

“This will be the Task Force’s final campaign to get our people fully vaccinated and after this date Oct. 15th, the Task Force will follow the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) guidelines and the vaccination will be mandated,” Talauega said.

Officials from the Department of Health announced during the weekly meeting of the Task Force last Friday that 55.6% of the American Samoa population is fully vaccinated. This numbers is well below the target of 80% or higher.

The Task Force Chairman noted that the medical community has made excellent strides since the beginning of vaccination efforts early in the year and “we need to push the needle further.” He said, “We’ve surpassed 60% of the population with one shot and now we need to get to 80% or higher.”

The grand total of COVID-19 vaccines administered to date stands at 55,038. The number of individuals with at least one dose is 29,347 with 1,413 awaiting their second shot and 1,637 past due for their second shot. 

As of July 1st, 53.9% of the total population had at least one dose and 47.9% were fully vaccinated. Following vaccination incentives, where the COVID-19 raffle was a key element, as of August 16th, 61.9% of the total population had at least one dose and 55.5% were fully vaccinated.

This data points to an 8 point increase in vaccinations as a result of the various vaccination campaign efforts.

FDA APPROVES THE FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE

Attorney General, Fainuulelei Falefatu Ala’ilima-Utu announced during the Task Force press conference last Friday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full approval for the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.

The approval was announced at the beginning of last week, according to Ala’ilima-Utu.

140 PASSENGERS ARRIVE TODAY ON THE MEDICAID TEST FLIGHT

About 140 passengers will be arriving today on the Medcaid flight, which is a test flight of American Samoa’s Safe Travel System, according to the Director of the Medicaid Office, Sandra King-Young during last week’s meeting with members of the local media.

About 150 registered on the Talofa Pass website to upload their personal documents and COVID-19 test results, however, only 140 were cleared to board the flight.

TALOFA PASS is the official name of the electronic system and IT solution for travels to American Samoa that went live over the weekend.

The contract was awarded last week to DataHouse Consulting Inc of Hawai’i, a leading IT company based in Hawaii with over 40 years of experience.

TWO FLIGHTS FOR SEPTEMBER

It was also announced during the Task Force weekly meeting last Friday that there will be two commercial flights by Hawaiian Airlines for the month of September. It will be on Sept. 13th & 27th.

According to the Task Force, travelers who booked on the Hawaiian Airlines website may have received cancellation emails for bookings made on the website’s default dates.

“The Task Force thanks the public for their continued patience as the Government works closely in coordination with Hawaiian Airlines throughout this transitional period,” the Task Force said.

The last commercial flight by Hawaiian Airlines on the Honolulu Pago Pago route was March 26, 2020 before borders closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Last year Hawaiian operated Medicaid flights, which arrived empty and took back medical referrals, students and returning US residents.

Since February 1st this year the airline has been operating repatriation flights as well as Medicaid flights.

The Task Force has explained that the resumption of Hawaiian Air flights on the Honolulu Pago Pago route are on a limited basis for now, instead of two flights per week as was the case pre pandemic.

PLEASE GET YOUR VACCINE

Members of the Task Force are urging residents to learn from what is happening in Hawaii and the mainland and get vaccinated for COVID-19.

Health officials during the press conference shared that Hawaii’s cases are “going through the roof” and the state is now being considered a deadly zone.

They pointed to nationwide surges of the delta variant which have rapidly spread across the nation and make up a majority of new infections: “The US has gone from dropping down with the availability of vaccines and now its right back up in a surge of delta cases. It is pretty serious out there. There has been a ten fold increase from June-July and now into August,” Acting Director of the Department of Health, Vesi Talalelei Fautanu Jr informed.

Vesi emphasized the longstanding recommendations and advice of the medical group urging all eligible members of the community to get their COVID shots.

He reported that unvaccinated people remain the greatest concern for transmissions, symptoms, illness and death, commenting that 99.5% of hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated.

The Task Force commended the Department of Health, Chamber of Commerce, and all ASG agencies involved in the latest vaccination push. These efforts culminated with the Protect AS One Festival held Saturday at the Veterans Memorial Stadium.

The Task Force is looking forward to continuing their partnership and realizing the full potential as a community. Government is just one segment of our society and everyone must come together and work together to protect American Samoa.

Around 300 vaccinations were administered during the festival as reported by health officials.