Fono gets vaccine answers
Timaru Tongan community members who were hesitant to get the Covid-19 vaccine had their questions answered on the subject by a Pasifika clinician on Friday.
Auckland GP Dr Api Talemaitoga was invited to share his knowledge and understanding of the vaccine at a Pasifika community fono (meeting) in Timaru.
Talemaitoga and Ministry of Health Pacific Health project manager Frank Po Ching were welcomed before the fono by South Canterbury District Health Board chief executive Nigel Trainor, some staff members and other organisation representatives.
The fono, attended by about 50 at Timaru Boy’s High School, was to empower Pasifika so they could make an informed decision on whether they wanted the vaccine.
Talemaitoga told the meeting that clinical trails of the Pfizer vaccine had included 40,000 people, and it showed the vaccine was 95 per cent effective.
He reassured the fono that Medsafe, an independent agency, looked carefully at every medication that came into the country and received the latest research as it came in.
Any long-term side effects of the vaccine were not yet known and the advice for pregnant women was to hold off having the vaccine until after their baby was born unless they were in high risk employment, he said.
‘‘When pregnant and in high risk employment it is better to have the vaccine than Covid,’’ Talemaitoga said.
There was evidence that if people were asymptomatic they were not as likely to spread Covid and if someone got Covid after being vaccinated they were not as sick as they could have been, if they had not been vaccinated, he said.
Questions from the audience included concern that children under-16 are not able to be vaccinated until more clinical trials are completed.
Talemaitoga said trials for that age group were underway. There were also questions about whether it was safe to have the vaccine with underlying health issues. He said the vaccine would not impact on them negatively.
The fono was organised by the Tongan Society South Canterbury, Ministry of Health and Ministry for Pacific Peoples.
Society general manager Sina Latu said it was good for the Tongan community to be informed and feel comfortable about what they chose when it comes to the vaccine, which will be rolled out to the general public in July.
She said if any Pasifika groups missed the fono but wanted to know more they could ask the SCDHB for someone to talk to them, or they could go to the covid19.govt.nz website which has information on the virus and vaccine in nine Pacific languages.