The programme has been so successful the Micronesian republic has withdrawn from the global Covid-19 vaccine facility Covax, aimed at providing equitable access among low and middle income countries.
Covax, which is funded through wealthy governments and donor organisations, had committed 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine to help the Marshall Islands achieve 20 percent coverage by year s end.
Deliveries were slated to begin next month.
However, the Marshall Islands Secretary of Health Jack Niedenthal said the US started supplying the Moderna vaccine in December. Next month we re scheduled to get 11,000 more vaccines, said Niedenthal. We ve already got 21,000 vaccines and this is a population of about 56,000 people, and roughly half of those may be eligible.
Giff Johnson, Editor, Marshall Islands Journal / RNZ Pacific correspondent
The Marshall Islands became the first independent nation in the Pacific region to begin Covid-19 vaccinations on Tuesday as a group of high-ranking Marshall Islands leaders joined with Ministry of Health doctors and nurses to be the first to receive the United States government-provided vaccines.
The US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) delivered to Majuro an initial batch of 1,200 vaccines Tuesday morning and the Ministry of Health wasted little time, rolling out the vaccine launch the same afternoon. We are getting vaccinated at the same time as people in the United States, said Health Secretary Jack Niedenthal. It is a great thing the US government is doing for us. This is a great day for all of us.