THE Northern Marianas is only 0.5% away from reaching its 80% herd immunity goal, the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. said.
As of Tuesday, 79.5% of the eligible CNMI population, or 33,715 individuals, had been fully vaccinated.
To reach the 80% herd immunity goal, 197 additional individuals need to be fully vaccinated.
On Saipan, 30,726 individuals have been fully vaccinated, 28,199 of whom took the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine; 1,772 the Moderna; and 755 the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen.
61.9% of the eligible population on Tinian, or 1,577 individuals, have been fully vaccinated, with 246 vaccinated with Pfizer; 1,321 with Moderna; and 10 with Johnson & Johnson/Janssen.
As for Rota, 73.7% of its eligible population, or 1,412 individuals, have been fully vaccinated, 207 of whom took Pfizer; 1,204 the Moderna; and one individual the Johnson & Johnson/Janssen.
Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. Chief Executive Officer Esther L. Muna said since the first case was detected in the CNMI, CHCC, the administration and the CNMI Covid-19 Task Force have worked together to contain the spread of the virus in the islands.
“We could not have done it without the willingness and commitment of this community. The love of our community is what keeps us strong and resilient, so when we first rolled out the vaccine program, it was no surprise to see many in the CNMI step up to the plate to get vaccinated for ourselves, for our loved ones, for our neighbors, coworkers, and for our overall community. We made that choice because we knew that while we did not have a widespread community transmission, we knew that vaccination was our best tool to protect our community from this deadly virus,” Muna said.
“While our vaccine rate is currently higher than the rest of the states, unfortunately, the rest of the globe is still experiencing Covid-19 and worse, variants may still emerge. Therefore, I humbly ask for you all to continue to urge more of your friends and family to get vaccinated so that the risk of a new variant remains low for the CNMI. Lastly, it is wonderful to hear that the full FDA approval has been given for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, and the approval for the Moderna vaccine is not far behind. This is an important milestone that should reassure anyone with concerns about the efficacy and the safety of the vaccines,” Muna added.
The Covid-19 vaccine is available for persons 12 years of age or older. To register and schedule an appointment to get vaccinated, visit https://www.vaccinatecnmi.com or call 682-SHOT (7468) between the hours of 7:30 a.m. and 8 p.m. any day of the week.
The CNMI has reported two deaths from Covid-19 and 248 total confirmed Covid-19 cases since March 28, 2020, of whom roughly 85%, or 212, were inbound passengers, either returning residents or contractors.
