Seychelles on Sunday began its vaccination campaign against the new coronavirus. Health Minister Peggy Vidot made the announcement which makes Seychelles one of the first African countries to launch such an operation.
“The vaccination campaign will start on Sunday with the country’s leaders, so the population will be able to see the leaders setting an example,” Peggy Vidot explained.
The president of the archipelago, Wavel Ramkalawan, was among the first people vaccinated. The vaccine used will be the Chinese vaccine developed by the public laboratory Sinopharm with its subsidiary China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
“It’s exactly as if I was getting any vaccine,” he said, encouraging all the people of the island nation to get the injection
Seychelles received 50,000 doses, donated by the United Arab Emirates. The entire population of the archipelago island nation is to be vaccinated on a voluntary basis.
The country is using the Chinese vaccine developed by the Chinese pharma giant Sinopharm with its subsidiary the China National Biotec Group (CNBG).
How is Seychelles Planning on Immunizing all Citizens?
Ramkalawan said the country was also expecting delivery at the end of January of another 50,000 doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine, a donation from the Indian government.
The latest assessment shows that 420 people have been infected since the start of the pandemic, including one death, but this figure is constantly rising, with an average of more than 20 new infections per day.
After the country’s leaders, the vaccination campaign will be extended on Monday to all medical personnel, then to people working in essential sectors, and then to people over 65-years-old before finally reaching the rest of the population.
Health workers will start being vaccinated on Monday, and then people aged over 65, followed by distribution to the rest of the population.
The Seychelles hopes to vaccinate 70 percent of its population within two to three months, at a rate of 1,000 per day.
More than a thousand people are to be vaccinated every day.
Source: Africannews
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