Applicants who had applied for the $360 assistance, but had not received their first jab have until Friday to do so.
These individuals who are among around 27,000 eligible applicants whose applications are still to be paid out, as of yesterday, need not reapply.
Making the announcement yesterday, Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum said their applications are already in the system, having applied within the stipulated timeframe.
“Because the applications are already in the system, and they applied in the official opening period from 9 to 11 August. If by this Friday they get vaccinated, the teams will be able to verify the vaccination records through the Ministry of Health, and Digital Fiji team and they will then be paid the $360.”
There were some instances where some applicants had made minor mistakes that would have nullified their application, such as incorrect birth registration numbers because one of two numbers were missed out or interchanged, these people were contacted, had their details verified and were paid accordingly.
They were among 232,893 Fijians, around 68% of total applicants, who, as of yesterday, have been paid under the $360-assistance scheme, amounting to $83.8 million.
Inclusive of other COVID-19 unemployment benefits to date, Sayed-Khaiyum said the Fijian Government has paid about $350 million.
In total, including other COVID-19-related expenses such as quarantine costs comprising food distribution expenditure, lockdown management, and expenses for frontline services provided by Fiji Police, Ministry of Health and RFMF, he said the government has disbursed half a billion dollars.
Meanwhile, for the $360-scheme, around 345,000 applications were received, and a preliminary assessment by the team in charge estimates that 260,000 qualify for the assistance, amounting to $93.6 million.
The assessment also declined 85,000 applications because the applicants were either still employed or recipients of existing government assistance such as TELS, Toppers, social welfare which are not covered under the scheme. There were also a number of applicants who had made multiple applications via different sim cards.
