The worst effects of COVID-19, which is severe disease and death, are experienced by unvaccinated Fijians, says Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama.

The story, he says is the same around the world. Overseas where vaccines have been available for months, people who refused the vaccines are dying in hospitals.

“The stories are heart-breaking: Moments before they succumb to the virus, these former anti-vaxx­ers are begging doctors to vacci­nate them. By then it is sadly too late,” Mr Bainimarama said.

“We will not meekly accept pre­ventable death in Fiji by needlessly stalling our vaccine campaign. We have worked with our development partners like Australia, New Zea­land, India, and the United States to bring these vaccines to Fiji, and we will not squander the protec­tion they provide.

“We have the chance to save lives, and we’d be fools not to take it. That is why employers, employees, and all those receiving government assistance in Fiji must be vaccinat­ed.”

Message to anti-vaxxers

“To the bush-lawyers who want to litigate that mandate, I ask: Do you want us to remain an island of disease and desolation in a world that is moving on from the virus? Do you want to let lies, misinfor­mation, and unholy insanity lead people into early graves? Do you want to continue to overload our healthcare system, making it more difficult for people who suffer con­ditions that are not preventable to get treatment? Do you want to con­tinue to put our frontline health workers at risk? How about chil­dren and the elderly?”

Those who refuse to be vaccinat­ed, he said pose a threat to resourc­es and make their fellow citizens pay for their foolishness.

“When they become sick, they will beg for help in an eleventh-hour conversion to sanity and so­briety,” he said.

“They will call for an ambulance and cry to be saved from the virus they dismissed as insignificant. And we will do our best for them because our humanity will out­weigh their smug ignorance.”

Mr Bainimarama stressed that protection through vaccination is an individual duty and a duty to those around us.

“When we reach our vaccine goal, our lives can return to normal. At least, some form of “normal” that feels much more familiar than to­day.”