Papua New Guinea will not receive its first Covid-19 vaccines until next month, despite an uncontrolled coronavirus outbreak spreading across the country, hospitals closing their doors on patients and an already vulnerable health system on the brink of collapse.
At Port Moresby general hospital, 40% of mothers in the tested delivery ward for Covid-19 tested positive, but could not be separated from other mothers because there is no isolated delivery ward for them.
And the crisis could get even worse: the burial ceremony of PNG’s first prime minister and his great chief, Sir Michael Somare, is expected to draw tens of thousands of people to the coastal city of Wewak later this week, an occasion that could serve as a super-propagating event, which in turn spreads the virus across the archipelago.
By global standards, the number of confirmed cases in PNG is low: 1,670. But less than 50,000 tests have been carried out on PNG – a population of almost 9 million – for the entire pandemic, and the actual rate of infection is higher.
In many places outside the capital Port Moresby, there is no test. PNG government sources say the actual case rate could be ten times the official figure.
Last Tuesday, the government announced that it had purchased 200,000 doses of AstraZeneca from Australia and 70,000 from India.
“We are now in the process of spreading the vaccine, hopefully in April,” said Prime Minister James Marape.
“Healthcare professionals will be vaccinated first, as we are seeing an increasing number of healthcare professionals being infected at work.”
The government is struggling not only with the growth of infections, but with ingrained resistance to vaccination, with conspiracy theories abounding in WhatsApp groups and social networks, and widespread uncompromising beliefs such as that “melanesians are immune to coronavirus” .
The crowded Port Moresby was the epicenter of the PNG outbreak, but there are also concerns about the growing number of cases in the Western Province, which shares a porous border with West Papua, where infection rates are among the highest in Melanesia.
The governor of Oro province, Gary Juffa, recently recovered from Covid-19, said the number of infections in PNG was much higher than the official numbers because many people were not being tested, despite having symptoms. He said that “years of neglect” and corruption within the PNG health system are “now revealing a harsh reality”.
“I believe that the situation is rapidly deteriorating and the health system in Papua New Guinea is under severe restrictions.”
Professor Glen Mola, head of the Port Moresby General obstetrics and gynecology ward, told the Guardian that vaccinations were urgently needed.
“We have cases of Covid-19 everywhere, about 40% of mothers brought to the delivery ward [and tested for coronavirus]… Tested Covid-19 positive, ”he said. “But we cannot isolate them because there is no isolation ward.
“We are doing our best to help these mothers, but they are bringing Covid-19 from their communities and infecting health workers.”
The hospital – the largest in PNG – was forced to close entire sections of the hospital after 40 employees tested positive. The hospital is also short of gloves and other personal protective equipment.
Other hospitals across the country – including Mount Hagen – have also closed their doors because of budget cuts. Some hospitals have received only a third of the money needed to remain open and have been forced to shut down services as Covid’s cases increase.
St John’s Ambulance Commissioner Matt Cannon said that, without intervention, PNG faced an uncontrollable outbreak.
“We are not at the tipping point right now – the tipping point was three weeks ago,” he said. “We are predicting hundreds more cases and, potentially, this will increase to thousands. We are on the alert level. There are big alarms going off. Health professionals are being affected ”.
“Now we are not working towards elimination; we are now at a stage where we can only try to slow the spread and protect as many lives as possible. “
Allan Bird, governor of East Sepik province, said the delay in launching a vaccine for Papua New Guinea would cost lives across the country.
“PNG did not ask for or pay for any vaccine in 2020, so we are not entitled to any vaccine,” he said. “The only vaccines available to us are donated by friendly governments. There is already a long waiting list for vaccines ”.