health ministry confirmed that 113,453 individuals had received booster shots. by 22 march, 87% of the population aged 12 years and over had been vaccinated. on 31 march, the fijian government accepted a new zealand offer to supply 50,000 doses of the pfizer pediatric vaccine. april 2022 by 2 april, 581,666 fijians (or 94.1% of the population) had been fully vaccinated. challenges public response to mandatory vaccination the fijian government's decision to make vaccination compulsory for public servants drew criticism for violating civil liberties and government overreach from senior civil servant ana, fiji trade union congress (ftuc) general secretary felix anthony, and lawyer filimoni vosarogo. vosarogo warned that certain provisions in the fijian constitution made it unconstitutional for vaccination to be made a condition of employment, potentially raising civil liberties issues. the fiji law society released a statement concerned at the legal implications of the government's policy adding that "health is important, but so are people's legal rights that ensure fiji remains a free and democratic society." the society also highlighted that unfair discrimination is prohibited under the constitution and added that the policy may not be fair in other circumstances. on the other hand, the young entrepreneurs council supported the government's policy adding that it is important for the country's economy that depended on tourism to recover and to allow operations to resume safely. misinformation and conspiracy theories a complaint was lodged to the fiji police force regarding the legality of the covid-19 vaccination. the complainant who is an assistant lecturer in the college of medicine, nursing, and health sciences for fnu uploaded a video on social media claiming that "there is no virus except for what is in the vaccine". the fiji national university responded by taking immediate and appropriate action against the individual stating that the "curriculum content must always be based on full facts" adding that the university reject all misinformation, unfounded conspiracy theories, and fake news. the fiji police force also investigated a viral video involving police officers in uniform claiming that the vaccines contained a metallic chip which attracted magnets. the ministry of health and the fiji medical association debunked those claims stating that the vaccine dose is too small to have the chip. vaccine fraud in november 2021, fbc news reported that there were reports of people using fake vaccination cards to access public services over the past two months. in response, the health ministry announced that it would be investigating civil servants involved in covid-19 vaccination fraud. vaccine wastage in mid november 2021, health permanent secretary doctor james fong confirmed that the health ministry had to deal with vaccine wastage during their vaccine drive. these have included instances of only one or two people turning up to vaccination centres; since one vial can be used to vaccinate ten people. vaccine rollout as of 10 october 2021, 594,872 fijians (96.2% of the targeted population of 618,173 individuals) have received their first dose of the astrazeneca vaccine while 496,091 individuals have been fully vaccinated (two doses). for children aged 15 to 17, more than 25,000 students have received their first dose. covid-19 vaccine roll-out plan group priority group progress 1 frontline workers in progress 2 healthcare workers 3 rfmf officers 4 fiji police force officers 5 hotel workers - especially those in quarantine facilities 6 tourism industry workers in general 7 elderly population 8 population with underlying medical conditions 9 general population covid-19 vaccine roll-out per division for individuals above the age of 18 as of 21 september 2021 division first dose administered second dose administered population received first dose population received second dose central 259,755 191,790 92.2% 68.1% western 219,108 157,802 96.8% 69.7% northern 78,045 50,226 89.4% 57.6% eastern 19,849 7,861 89.4% 57.6% fiji 576,757 407,679 93.3% 65.9% adverse events further information: vaccine adverse event the ministry of health and medical services recorded 56 events related to adverse effects after immunisation. out of the events, 5 cases were considered serious. however per investigation, permanent secretary for health james fong announced that the cases were not linked to vaccination. public opinion in early september 2021, the non-governmental organisation dialogue fiji released the results of a public opinion survey on covid-19 vaccination that it had conducted between 25 june and 10 july that year. the survey found that 53.9% of the 1,067 respondents believed that the vaccine was "very safe" while 19.4 percent reported the vaccines to be "little safe" and "not safe at all." within the vaccine hesitant group, 50% cited a fear of side effects; 36% believed that vaccines were unsafe; 17% believed that vaccines had metal chips, were connected to 5g or were magnetic; and 10% cited religious reasons. within ethnic groups, dialogue fiji's survey found that 84.1% of indo-fijians, 69.4% of rotumans and 52% of itaukei were willing to be vaccinated. dialogue fiji also found that muslims (88.65) and hindus (83.4%) were more receptive to getting vaccinated than christians (59.25%) who were more likely to be "vaccine hesitant" (14.8%). the study found that christian religious leaders and influencers had promoted conspiracy theories about covid-19 vaccines being the "mark of the beast" and demonic potions on major social media platforms including facebook, tiktok, instagram and youtube.