The Australian Minister for the Pacific says they remain committed to help Fiji in its battle against COVID-19.

Zed Seselja says the additional 50,000 AstraZeneca vaccines that arrived last night has raised the total number of vaccines provided by Australia to 250,000.

He says this is part of their one million vaccines commitment to Fiji under the Vuvale partnership.

“We know how important this vaccine roll out is to our Fijian Vuvale at the moment. We know there are some challenges there in terms of COVID but we are very impressed with the speed of your vaccine roll out and so this extra 50,000 or the 250, 000 in total will hopefully help to allow the Fijian authorities to be delivering the vaccines to the Fijian people, protecting those lives, slowing those outbreaks and along the other measures and helping the Fijian government get on top of the COVID outbreak.”

The Australian Minister to the Pacific adds that the vaccine will assist many Pacific Island countries including Fiji in terms of economic recovery.

“We see it as a moral necessity for Australia to do this but the Prime Minister has also said that it is an economic necessity. When it comes to our family and friends in the Pacific, we want to work with you to make sure everyone in the Pacific is protected.”

As part of Australia’s one million vaccine commitment, 750,000 vaccine will arrive in batches in the near future.