Tonga hopes to receive Covid-19 vaccines

Tonga's Ministry of Health says it could possibly receive Covid-19 vaccines in the beginning of the second quarter of the year.

However the acting Chief Executive Officer Dr Reynold 'Ofanoa told local media that there has been no set date confirmed on the arrival of vaccines to Tonga.

Last week, the global COVAX facility announced that it's expected to release the first doses of Pfizer/BioNtec vaccine and the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine during the first half of 2021.

Tonga has been listed to receive 43,200 indicative doses of the Astra Zeneca vaccine from a manufacturing source known as AZ/SKBio

The number of doses is a guide only for the country to prepare for vaccine rollout.

New Zealand, Australia, and other partners are also offering more vaccines to Tonga.