Over 30,000 people have received a dose of Vaccine in Vanuatu and Vanuatu Cricket players and staff are amongst the first 2000 people that have received two doses and are now fully vaccinated.
Mark Stafford, President of the VCA expressed that taking the vaccine is the socially responsible action to take and players and staff are committed to protecting themselves, their friends, family, colleagues, junior team mates, their communities and Vanuatu as a whole.
“We have been lucky in Vanuatu so far, but we need to be prepared for the distinct possibility that Covid19 will reach Vanuatu communities at some time. We also need to ensure that our players and staff are best protected when we travel outside of Vanuatu to represent our country in regional and global tournaments.
“The decision to take the vaccine was easy to make however, we had to take into consideration our player’s and staff concerns. We were privileged to have support from the COVID19 task force and health officials who provided an information session where our players, their families especially parents and staff were able to express their concerns, ask questions and receive factual answers which lead to informed decision making from everyone,” he said.
Vanuatu Cricket with over 25,000 participants across the country, run a wide variety of programs in communities and schools with participant’s age ranging from three to seventy years old, different abilities, different immune systems, and different views thus, being fully vaccinated is an important milestone for continuation and progress of the programs.
“As a fully vaccinated group we have the comfort and the confidence that our programs can be delivered by our staff and players in the best possible environment without putting anyone at risk. We can also use our platforms to encourage participants to make informed decisions, provide factual and approved COVID19 messages, and encourage Vaccination. This will allow our country to be in the best possible position to be protected and enable our borders to be opened and get our economy moving forward again,” Stafford said.
Stafford also stated that being vaccinated means that Vanuatu Cricket’s national teams can move forward and continue to fly Vanuatu’s flag at the international cricket stage.
“Our national teams are now in a position to travel to join international competitions that we have qualified for and to represent Vanuatu to the best of our ability. This is always going to be subject to ensuring that we obtain the best advice available from our own health officials and the health officials in any country that we propose to travel to and through.
“In conclusion I would like to say that I am very proud of the willingness of all of our staff and players to act in the best interest of our country and our communities.” – Mark Stafford.
To receive the Vaccine, please head to the convention center next to the Australian High Commission in Port Vila with a nationally recognized ID or find further information and updates on the Ministry of Health Covid19 Updates website via this link: https://covid19.gov.vu/index.php/vaccination/information.
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