The private sector is doing its part to expedite the full vaccination of eligible Fijians in an effort to achieve herd immunity and allow for more commercial transactions.

Minister for Economy, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum says the vaccine lottery that was announced by the Prime Minister is funded by the private sector.

Business houses and organizations have stepped forward to assist relevant stakeholders in encouraging Fijians to get vaccinated.

“They recognize that this is in the interest of the country that once we achieve herd immunity we can have a lot more commercial transactions, people go back to work and organizations like FNPF obviously want more people to go back to work because their member’s fund will increase contribution.”

Sayed-Khaiyum says the contribution from the various organizations amounted to $300,000 in prize money.

“It is not taxpayers money, it’s not an allocation specifically budgeted for as we are actually getting it funded purely by the private sector. Whilst the allocation is there, the funding is actually coming from citizens and organizations that are concerned about getting the vaccination rates high.”

The first draw of $8,000 will be held on Tuesday to coincide with the 8th anniversary of our Constitution and the second draw will be on Fiji Day with $51,000 in prize money in recognition of Fiji’s 51st anniversary of independence.

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