Tahiti Covid-19 vaccination extended to children

7:10 pm on 15 June 2021

Vaccines against Covid-19 in French Polynesia are being made available for children aged 12 and older.

A nurse takes vials of Comirnaty vaccine by Pfizer-BioNTech against Covid-19 out of a fridge at the Baleone vaccine centre in Ajaccio on the French Mediterranean island of Corsica, on May 13, 2021.

Photo: AFP

The inoculation campaign launched in January has seen about third of those over 18 to be vaccinated.

More than 66,000 people have received at least one injection, with just under 56,000 people completing the vaccination.

Quaranatine-free access to the territory has been opened for vaccinated travellers from France, where more than half the population has now had at least one jab.

Earlier, the only such travellers allowed in were those from California.

In its second wave of the pandemic, French Polynesia recorded almost 19,000 infections, which led to 142 deaths.

After experiencing the highest infection rate outside Europe in November, the pandemic has abated and daily case numbers are down in the single digits.