‘The fear of this vaccine is real’: how Papua New Guinea’s Covid strategy went so wrong

Public confusion and distrust over vaccination have been fuelled by what experts say are crippling failures in authorities' response to the pandemic

• See all our coronavirus coverage

In mid-October Dr Clement Malau, a Harvard-educated public health specialist and former secretary of the Papua New Guinea health department, was alarmed to discover he had gone viral. Only he hadn't.

Someone had posted a 20-minute audio clip as a speech from Dr Clement Malau regarding the vaccine", the orator sliding between English and Tok Pisin - PNG Pidgin - to deliver an eloquent, tub-thumping rant against Covid-19.