By Siteri Sauvakacolo in Suva
Fiji has been warned that people who are unvaccinated and those who have been completely vaccinated have equal capabilities of spreading the covid-19 virus.
The warning has come from Dr Jone Hawea, a former surgeon with the Ministry of Health and Medical Services, as latest reports say that eight days into August and there is little evidence of any improvement in Fiji’s covid-19 crisis.
The latest figures from the start of the month show huge increases when compared with the same period in July, reports RNZ Pacific.
Dr Hawea said a weekly Morbidity and Mortality report released on July 30 by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) outlined the study carried out in the state of Massachusetts on the delta variant which noted 74 percent of those who were studied had two jabs and still had the same viral load as the 26 percent who were not vaccinated.
“According to this study, the viral load is the same and the evidence is a public statement that CDC made about the delta variant,” Dr Hawea said.
“Why isn’t the [Fiji] Ministry of Health stating this evidence?
“This report by the CDC clearly states that those who are unvaccinated and those who have been completely vaccinated have equal capabilities of spreading the virus, their viral load is the same.”
Highly contagious, more severe
However, Ministry of Health permanent secretary Dr James Fong said the CDC finding indicated that the delta variant was different from previous strains as it was highly contagious and likely more severe.
“The important point is that vaccines prevent 90 percent of severe disease, but maybe less effective at preventing infection or transmission,” he said.
“Therefore, more breakthrough infections (infections that get through the vaccine transmission barrier) are expected and community spread can still occur despite vaccination.
“There are indications that these breakthrough infections may be as transmissible as unvaccinated cases…..so NPIs [nonpharmaceutical interventions such as face masks and public health measures] are essential to prevent continued spread even with good vaccine coverage.”
Dr Fong said that in this case the vaccine would work to break the link between getting infected and getting severe disease.
He added less severe disease would mean that more people recovered and less pressure on our health system.
Dr Hawea said this latest CDC report indicated there was a conflict of interest in trying to achieve herd immunity because the ability of an unvaccinated person to spread the virus was the same as a person who had received both jabs.
Fiji crisis worsening
RNZ Pacific’s Fiji correspondent Lice Movono reports that by the end of July, Fiji’s Ministry of Health and Medical Services had recorded 25,363 new infections and 218 deaths for the month.
According to government figures, the country started July with 3503 infections but by the month’s end, 21,707 people were living with the delta strain of the coronavirus.
But only eight days into August and the health authorities had reported more than 6500 new infections, which was more than twice the 1743 reported for the same period last month.
In terms of deaths, August had already registered 57 lives lost compared to nine in July.
Siteri Sauvakacolo is a Fiji Times reporter. This article is republished with permission.
This post was originally published on Asia Pacific Report.
