Advance CTC ‘possibly’ disrupted last week’s mass vax drive

Pago Pago, AMERICAN SAMOA — The low turnout during the mass COVID-19 vaccination for the Western District last week Wednesday and Thursday — especially on Thursday, Dec. 9th — is being attributed by the Health Department to possibly, the distribution of the federally funded Advance Child Tax Credit, or Advance CTC, as the vaccination drive moves this week to the Eastern District on Dec. 15th and 16th.

ASG Treasury released the Advance CTC on Wednesday, Dec. 8th, but it spilled over to the following day, on Thursday, with huge traffic jams in the town area around the U.S Post Office, with motorists from the West Side heading to town stuck in a long traffic queue. Around 12:30p.m on Thursday, traffic from the West side heading into town was backed-up past Matafao Elementary School in Fagaalu.

Some residents attributed the traffic jam on Thursday in town to the MV Lady Naomi being in port, and tax payers waiting to go to the Post Office as they were expecting crowds on Wednesday — which did occur at both at the Post Office, and the Territorial Bank of American Samoa (TBAS).

Samoa News observed a traffic accident late Thursday morning at Fatumafuti that caused more traffic problems for residents from the west side heading into town, with traffic backed up to Faganeanea. 

At TBAS on Thursday, there were still long lines of customers waiting to enter the bank, and the line spilled into the parking lot.

Just after 2p.m. last Thursday, DoH issued a statement to local news outlets saying that, “due to the low turnout at our school-based COVID-19 vaccine sites” — Manulele Elementary, Tafuna Elementary, Leone Midkiff Elementary, and Lupelele Elementary — these sites were closed earlier than the scheduled time of 4p.m. And the DoH clinics in Tafuna and Leone were opened from 4p.m. to 7p.m. for COVID-19 vaccinations.

DoH provided updates on the mass vaccination drive during a department news conference this past Friday, streamed live on KVZK-TV’s Facebook page. DoH Pharmacist, Dr. Francine Amoa — who oversees the vaccination campaign drive — gave the total tally of shots administered during the vaccination drive over the past two weeks — 4,797, that includes children ages 5 to 11 years old — which is the focus of the drive — and those ages 12 and older as well as booster shots.

DoH Epidemiologist, Dr. Aifili John Tufa explained that on Dec. 8th the total number of shots administered at all vaccination sites was 827 and on Thursday, Dec. 9th, DoH teams returned to some of the areas in Central District (which had their vaccination drive on Dec. 1st and Dec. 2nd) due to some schools having high enrollments, such as Manulele Elementary, Tafuna Elementary and Lupelele Elementary.

He also noted that on Dec. 8th, Wednesday, the Advance CTC was released and parents weren’t able to show up at the vaccination sites. He also said DoH observed the drop in vaccination doses administered on Thursday, Dec. 9th, with a total of 420 shots.

Based on data from the local Education Department, he said total enrollment for schools in the territory is 12,463 for students ages 5 years old and up. And so far, 41.7% of them are fully vaccinated.

And following the vaccination drive for the Central and Western Districts, first-dose for age group 5 to 11 years old is 24.4% of the total school enrollment for this age group.

Dr. Amoa added that from these two district’ vaccination drives, the number of 5 to 11 years old who received shots totals 2,967 and none of them faced any health issues or serious side-effects as a result of the shot. She explained that the child is observed for 15-minutes by medical staff after getting the shot before they are released.

At press time, Dr. Amoa said there were no reports from parents of serious health effects from the shots to the children, or reports of children taken to the hospital due to health issues from the shots.

She did note a case on Thursday, where a student who is 12-years and over who received the first shot, encountered dizziness and was then taken to the hospital for check up and observation and later released to go home. The student is doing well.

According to Dr. Amoa, children who received the first shot during the first week of mass vaccination — Dec. 1st to 3rd —  are due back soon for their second shot.

“Unfortunately, with the way the school calendar works, they are about to go into the holiday recess within the next two weeks,” Dr. Amoa explained. “For those who were given the first-dose on Dec. 1st, for example, are due for the second-dose on Dec. 22nd — and that’s during the holiday break. So our clinics will be open.”

“When school gets back in session, there are plans in consideration right now, to go back and administer the 2nd dose for those who are due. Otherwise, parents — if your children are due for the 2nd dose during the holiday break, we strongly advise you bring them into our clinics,” she said.

“We are hoping that our LBJ Medical Center [vaccination] site will be up and running” during the holiday break, said Dr. Amoa, who recapped data on last week’s drive, noting that most of the sites were at schools.

“So the grand total as of the last two weeks is 4,797 shots administered,” she said and addressed the issue on current status of each of school “because this is the reason we really decided to approach the vaccination distribution because of the 5 to 11 years old. We know that students will be there with their parents.”

“Overall, we’re very pleased with the coverage right now,” she said.

She noted for example, Tafuna Elementary School total enrollment is 730 and 20% are fully vaccinated, but 51.4% are waiting for second dose. And so the second dose for those students will be due after the end of the month, in early January.”

“If all of them complete their second dose that puts them into a coverage of 70% or more. We still have about 28% to go at that particular school,” she said, “but looking at overall at big schools with high enrollments — Manulele Elementary, Lupelele Elementary, Leone Midkiff Elementary — the coverage could be better,” she said. 

“So we are in a good place but that doesn’t mean our work ends there. We still have a 20%, almost 25%, among all the elementary schools that still need to come in for a first-dose,” she pointed out.

For high schools, during the first week in the Central District, “there was concern that there was low turnout at some of the high schools,” said Dr. Amoa. “But when we had the opportunity to look at the data, thankfully, a lot of the high schools’ coverage was well over 85%.”

“For the most part, a lot of our 16-years and older, the coverage is very high. And we suspect it’s because the Pfizer vaccine for 16 years and older is now fully U.S Food and Drug Administration approved. And that has been approved since the mid summer,” she noted. “So there was time for parents to bring that particular age group for vaccine.”

DoH information received by Samoa News last week, provides data for three high schools in the Central District. For example, at Kanana Fou High School, the fully vaccinated rate is 89.4%; Tafuna High School with 86.7% and Nu’uuli Vocational Technical High School at 85.8%.

During the news conference, Dr. Amoa emphasized that “the group that we really want to focus on with this drive are the five to 11 years old.”

And the “support has been overwhelming so far” both in private and public schools, she said.

“Overall we are moving in the right direction but we still have work to do,” she said and remind parents to take their children who are due for the second dose to the clinics during the holiday break.

EAST DISTRICT

The vaccination drive moves to the East District this week on Dec. 15th and Dec. 16th at designated sites, mostly schools. There are 10 sites for Dec. 15th and 7 sites for Dec. 16th — all open from 8a.m. to 4p.m. DoH asks parents/legal guardians of children ages 5 to 11 years old to be present for their children’s vaccination and sign their consent forms.

DoH is also holding informational meetings where the public — especially parents can ask questions. The first meeting is today, Dec. 13th at the DYWA building in Pago Pago and tomorrow, Tuesday, Dec. 14th, at Fagaitua High School gym. Both meetings start at 5p.m.

DEC. 6TH HAWAIIAN AIRLINES FLIGHT

When asked during the news conference for an update on the Dec. 6th Hawaiian Airlines from Honolulu, Dr. Tufa said total passenger count on this last flight of the year was 253 and all went into quarantine. COVID-19 tests were conducted on Thursday and to  be completed last Friday. 

No information is available, until after all the tests are completed, but so far, no one is showing symptoms of COVID-19, he said.