In The World's Highest Vaccinated Country, COVID Cases Are On The Rise

The archipelago of Seychelles has a population of nearly 100,000 people. The country has vaccinated over 60 per cent of its population against COVID, as per a report by BBC.

Despite vaccinating majority of its population, the country has been recording a huge surge in coronavirus cases. In fact, last week the country decided to close schools and cancel sporting activities for two weeks, in a bid to flatten the curve.

"Despite of all the exceptional efforts we are making, the Covid-19 situation in our country is critical right now, with many daily cases reported last week," Peggy Vidot, the nation's health minister, said at a press conference on May 4, reported The Economic Times.

The island nation is heavily dependent on tourism for its economic revenues. In January, the country embarked on an aggressive vaccination programme, by administering China's Sinopharm vaccine to its citizens. By April, 12, 59 per cent of the doses administered the population were of Sinopharm vaccines, according to Bloomberg. Later, it started it using Covidshield.

A look at the figures gives enough proof that COVID cases are on the rise in the country. The total number of active cases in the country rose to 1,068 on May 3 from 612 on April 28, according to the health ministry. Of those, 84 per cent are among Seychellois people and the rest are foreigners. The B.1.351 variant of the virus, which was first discovered in South Africa late last year, was found in Seychelles in February.

A lesson to be learnt here is that while vaccination is important, it is not enough. People and the government will still have to be careful. If we have to avoid a 3rd wave, we cannot stop with just getting vaccinated. The effort to stay safe needs to be sustained over a long period for us to come out of the pandemic successfully for the long haul

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