Opinion: Fight against Covid-19 in Seychelles Vaccination = exit strategy |11 January 2021

The mood in the country is likely to change with the rollout of the vaccination campaign against the coronavirus.

The country’s political leaders showed us the way yesterday as President Wavel Ramkalawan, former President Danny Faure, Vice-President Ahmed Afif and others received the SinoPharm Covid-19 vaccine.

This was the beginning of a national immunisation campaign in efforts to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in Seychelles.

As President Ramkalawan said, “We want Seychelles to be Covid-free so that we can reopen our economy which is in red zone”.

I am sure many of us felt even prouder to be a Seychellois yesterday when President Ramkalawan and Danny Faure, the man he beat in last October’s presidential election to become the county’s fifth president, stood side by side to wait to be administered the vaccine.

This really proves that Seychelles is bigger than us and we all need to play our part to defeat Covid-19 which has already taken the life of one of our own and a total of 531 cases registered since last year.

This piece is not meant to be political but the fact that politicians are involved, it once again sends another message to the world: ‘Seychelles might be small, the people might have their political beliefs and follow different religions, but when there is a need to unite, we do it without any hindsight.’

We have shown to the world before that despite our smallness we can be an example to follow. The transfer of power following the October general elections was the first example, contrary to what we have seen and read about in the United States of America (USA) when unmasked President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed and breached the US Capitol on Wednesday last week, stoked by his defiant speech claiming the election had been stolen from him.

The USA, which has a tendency to police the world and call out soi-disant unfair elections in mostly African, South American, Asian and eastern European countries, must by now realise it has to sweep around its own front door before trying to clean someone else's.

Seychelles’ move to rapidly inoculate the population is a good initiative and with the first 50,000 Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines donated by the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan for 25,000 people, it means at least one third of the population to be vaccinated would receive their two doses.

The UAE is expected to give more vaccines, while the Indian government has made an offer of 100,000 doses of the Oxford Astra-Zeneca vaccine. The consignment is expected in the country at the end of January.

Businesses and individuals have also been making their contributions and other private donors are being asked to deposit their contributions in the new Covid-19 Relief Fund with the Central Bank of Seychelles, Account Number 14166.

The government is making sure everyone has equal access to Covid-19 vaccines as the vaccination programme continues this week with different groups of people ‒ health care workers, police officers, fire fighters, the elderly and others.

This robust vaccination campaign will see Seychelles become the first country in the world to vaccinate at least 70% of its population over 18 years old.

Should we say that Seychelles has declared a war against Covid-19?

If the answer is yes, then for us to win this war, we must all follow the guidelines given by the Ministry of Health.

Remember, the vast majority of people are still vulnerable to coronavirus. It's only the current restrictions that are preventing more people from catching the virus and dying.

You are therefore encouraged to follow the example set by our leaders and get yourselves vaccinated.

Vaccines we are told by experts teach our bodies to fight the infection by stopping us from catching coronavirus, or at least making Covid less deadly.

Having a vaccine, alongside better treatments, is the exit strategy.

Well done Seychelles and Seychellois for embarking on the vaccination camp!

Gerard Govinden