By rnz.co.nz and is republished with permission.
Health workers flown to American Samoa, Vanuatu gets Maritime Council seat, a vaccination deadline extended in American Samoa and more.
Health workers flown to American Samoa, patients to Hawaii
A charter flight carrying almost 80 healthcare workers and their families from Fiji is to arrive in American Samoa today to boost the workforce.
RNZ Pacific’s correspondent reported the essential healthcare staff are for the Department of Health and the LBJ Tropical Medical Centre.
The American Samoa Covid-19 Task Force said the new arrivals will be quarantined for seven days.
Meanwhile, a special medical charter left the capital Pago Pago early this week for Hawaii with 151 passengers.
Many of the travellers were patients from LBJ hospital seeking medical treatment in the US, but some were non-medical passengers.
Vanuatu gains seat on Maritime Council
Vanuatu has been elected to the International Maritime Organisation Council.
The country was elected during the Council’s 32nd Assembly as a Category C member with 19 other countries, including Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Singapore, RNZ Pacific’s Vanuatu correspondent said.
Category C represents states with special interests in maritime transport or navigation and whose election to the Council will ensure the representation of all major geographic areas of the world.
Vanuatu is the first Pacific small island developing state to be elected.
Its ambassador Laurent Parente was also elected chairperson of the council’s assembly committee, which deals with all administrative, financial, legal and technical matters.
Vanuatu secured a substantial number of votes, placing it equal with Mexico and the Philippines and before Qatar, Denmark and Thailand.
Vaccination deadline extended for American Samoa political employees
Those working for American Samoa’s top politicians have been given more time to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19.
RNZ Pacific’s correspondent reported that Governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga pushed out the deadline for Executive Branch employees to get fully vaccinated against Covid-19 till next month.
American Samoa’s executive branch includes the governor, lieutenant governor, and executive cabinet.
Lemanu also extended the deadline for “overstayers” to apply for the Amnesty Programme.
Previously, all Executive Branch employees were given until 15 December to be fully vaccinated. They now have until January 14th.
The last Amnesty Programme was in late 2019 during the measles epidemic, where many people died in neighbouring Samoa and restrictions were placed over entry into the territory as well as a mass measles immunisation drive.
Call for UN to reject results of New Caledonia referendum
Pacific civil society organisations are calling on the United Nations to reject the results of New Caledonia’s third and final independence referendum.
The vote was held on Sunday in spite of requests from indigenous Kanaks for it to be postponed because of the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pro-independent groups boycotted the vote, resulting in a record low turnout and an overwhelming majority in favour of staying with France.
In a joint statement nine Pacific NGO’s accused France of “colonial manoeuvring” while New Caledonians were caught in a Covid-19 health crisis “to arrive at a premeditated outcome.”
They said the outcome of the referendum could not be taken as the “genuine resolve of the Kanak people” and called on the United Nations to reject the poll result.
