Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — American Samoa has one more laboratory confirmed measles case after a sample sent to the Hawaii state lab for testing came back positive last week.  The latest case brings the total to 16 laboratory confirmed measles cases in Am Samoa.

Meanwhile, the Health Department is again conducting vaccinations this week at designated sites, and urges all residents who are not immunized to do so - to stop the spread of measles locally.

DoH and LBJ Medical Center officials provided the latest update during a cabinet briefing on measles and coronavirus updates late Sunday afternoon. (See separate story in today’s edition.)

The new confirmed case is a female, 24, from Falenui, who was born in American Samoa with no travel history outside of the territory. The person has had her first MMR shot. LBJ suspects that this individual contracted measles from another person and therefore, there is an important need to ensure that the entire population gets vaccinated. With the case confirmed, the person will now be required to take the second required MMR shot.

DoH epidemiologist Dr. Aifili John Tufa said that although there is a “pretty good decline” in cases, as they are coming in slowly, “we have some measles” cases transmitted locally.

For the territorial-wide overall vaccination coverage, he said it’s “pretty high” at over 95%; however, “there are still some pockets out there, some [who] have not taken their shots and that’s where these cases” are turning up.

LBJ’s Dr. Reese Tuato’o, during LBJ’s presentation, gave this strong suggestion: “Let’s take the shots to the patient” at their home — if it can be done. Dr. Tufa presented the latest update on the overall MMR coverage for daycare centers and schools — both public and private — including ECEs.

For the first MMR shot, he said 99.7% of children — 12 months and older — have gotten  their first MMR shot, leaving 37 of them — or 0.3% — needing to get immunized. “We still have 37 more we’re trying to track down. We’re suspecting that these 37 either moved off island or have not gone to school,” he said. The “37 is still a mystery to us at this point.”

For MMR one and two, he said 98.4% of students — 4 years and older — have completed both doses, leaving 179 students needing their shots. He pointed out that “among the 179 students, are those who just received their first shot a few days or a month ago. We’re waiting for that 28-day period… before we can give them their second shot.”

“So we’re tracking 179 and we’re confident we will be able to bring that number down substantially as the days go by,” he continued, adding that DoH continues to work closely with DOE and the private schools to ensure all students are vaccinated.

While the Leone Clinic is closed to the public, DoH immunization outreach continues this week in Fagaalu, Tafuna and Amouli, as well as the DHSS office in Utulei. DoH is also conducting school site visits to update immunization records for students.