Fiji has announced plans to make the COVID-19 vaccine compulsory for all workers as it battles a runaway outbreak of the Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, with Fijian Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama issuing a blunt message: “No jabs, no job.”
Bainimarama said all public servants in the South Pacific nation of 930,000 must go on leave if they have not had their first vaccine dose by Aug. 15 and would be dismissed if they did not receive their second by Nov. 1.
Private-sector employees must have their first jab by Aug. 1, with individuals facing hefty fines if they fail to comply and companies threatened with being shut down.
Photo: AFP
“No jabs, no job — that is what the science tells us is safest, and that is now the policy of the government and enforced through law,” Bainimarama said in a national address late on Thursday.
The hardline policy comes amid government frustration at the widespread flouting of disease prevention measures, such as social distancing and wearing masks, blamed in part for a huge spike in infections.
Until April, Fiji had recorded no community cases for a year, but a quarantine breach saw the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, first detected in India, rapidly gain a foothold, with the nation now recording 700-plus new cases a day.
The health system has been stretched to breaking point, with the nation’s largest hospital in Suva this week saying that its mortuary was at capacity and urging the families of virus victims to collect their loved ones.
Bainimarama has resisted calls to lock down the entire nation, citing the economic cost and the practicalities of enforcing such a move in densely populated squatter settlements.
“A hard lockdown, as some are calling for, cannot be strictly enforced everywhere in Fiji and our experts tell us it would not kill off the virus, but it would kill jobs and it could kill our country’s future,” he said.
Instead, Bainimarama has imposed localized lockdowns in infection hotspots, including the capital, Suva, while rolling out the Astra Zeneca vaccine.
While almost 340,000 adults have received their first injection, Bainimarama said online misinformation was discouraging some people, assuring them he had experienced no serious side effects from the inoculation.
“I have not been magnetized or microchipped by the vaccine, I have not received the mark of the beast or any other creature — the vaccine does not do that to anyone,” Bainimarama said.
The rugby union-mad nation’s team has thrown its weight behind the inoculation drive and are to wear shirts emblazoned with the message “Vaccinate Fiji,” rather than their sponsor’s logo, during their two-Test series against New Zealand starting today.
Bainimarama said spot fines were being introduced for “reckless rule-breakers” who do not wear masks, attend social gatherings or breach quarantine orders.
Australian Minister for International Development and the Pacific Zed Seselja yesterday said that his nation had delivered 70,000 more vaccine doses to Fiji in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to about 400,000.
Australia would “continue to up our effort when it comes to sharing vaccines in the region. I expect it will continue to ramp up right throughout this year,” Seselja said.
India and Canada yesterday reached a string of agreements, including on critical mineral cooperation and a “landmark” uranium supply deal for nuclear power, the countries’ leaders said in New Delhi. The pacts, which also covered technology and promoting the use of renewable energy, were announced after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney hailed a fresh start in the relationship between their nations. “Our ties have seen a new energy, mutual trust and positivity,” Modi said. Carney’s visit is a key step forward in ties that effectively collapsed in 2023 after Ottawa accused New Delhi
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Counting was under way in Nepal yesterday, after a high-stakes parliamentary election to reshape the country’s leadership following protests last year that toppled the government. Key figures vying for power include former Nepalese prime minister K. P. Sharma Oli, rapper-turned-mayor Balendra Shah, who is bidding for the youth vote, and newly elected Nepali Congress party leader Gagan Thapa. In Kathmandu’s tea shops and city squares, people were glued to their phones, checking results as early trends flashed up — suggesting Shah’s centrist Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) was ahead. Nepalese Election Commission spokesman Prakash Nyupane said the counting was ongoing “in a peaceful manner”
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
RSS