Public health experts generally agree that the best way to stop a pandemic is to get everyone immunised. While the worldwide COVID-19 outbreak began in December 2019, only 1.2 percent of Papua New Guineans (PNG) were fully protected as of October 2021.
Businesses in Papua New Guinea have begun actively encouraging vaccination rollout in the workplace to help improve vaccination rates. “No jab, no job” has become a trademark of many PNG employers’ whip to enforce COVID19 vaccine policy at work, so their employees were forced to choose between vaccination and continued employment or being fired if they weren’t vaccine.
Workers’ willingness to get vaccinated was influenced by factors such as their level of education, threat of COVID-19 infection, income, underlying medical conditions, and where they live and work.
As social media has evolved into a vehicle for disseminating false information to the public, the authors come to the conclusion that vaccination rates in Papua New Guinea will need to be boosted through campaigns to raise public awareness of COVID-19 vaccines. This can be done by partnering with organisations like the church to spread awareness.