Several maritime islands have come forward saying they will not accept any more repatriation until all their villagers have been fully vaccinated.

Health Minister, Doctor Ifereimi Waqainabete says Koro and even those in the Lau group have reached out to them regarding their stand on protecting villagers from COVID-19.

“So before we were saying, you have to be fully vaccinated here before you go across to the maritime. But we’ve had Koro saying they want to be fully vaccinated before they can actually accept people and those are some of the things we are hearing from other islands.”

He adds that health teams are now assisting with the requests put forward by the Vanua.

“Our officers in those areas are working with the Rokos and the DOs and PAs to be able to understand what the consensus of the islands are. In terms of the health protection. We provide the advice and we encourage them to make the informed decisions of what they want.”

The Health Ministry says it will facilitate the requests from some of the islands and liaise with relevant authorities in coming weeks.

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