Seychelles | Unexpected increase in cases despite vaccinations

Nicholas Berube
Tap

60% of the vaccinated population

More than 60% of the Seychelles’ 100,000 inhabitants are fully immunized. However, the spread of COVID-19 has exploded there since early May. Located in the Indian Ocean, the archipelago has an infection rate of 100 new cases per day, which is about the same as in India. “We are facing an upward trend,” Public Health Commissioner Jude Gedian told a news conference this week. We do not know how long this will last. It depends on the actions taken and how the new actions are followed. “National control has just been reversed.

“Bitter Taste”

At first glance, this discovery may “taste bitter,” but it is far more complex than it appears, points out Benoit Barbeau, a professor of biology at the University of Quebec in Montreal and an expert in urology. . “Vaccination protects us very effectively from serious symptoms, but in some cases it can be contagious. In two-thirds of cases in the Seychelles, only one dose affects people who have been vaccinated or have not been vaccinated,” Mr. Barbeau said. This shows that vaccinated individuals have been rescued. ”

Synoform vaccine

The vast majority of vaccine doses used in the Seychelles come from the Chinese company Sinoform. The World Health Organization recently estimated that the synoform vaccine was effective in just over 78% of people under the age of 60, and that they could not comment on the success of the vaccine in people under the age of 60. Barbue said the vaccine from AstraZeneca as well as those from Pfizer and Moderna were more effective. “However, the quality of vaccines has played a role. Bridge Beijing says it has donated 13.3 million doses of the synoform vaccine to 56 countries.

The future of the pandemic?

It is difficult to know how the epidemic will be in a few months or years. Even in low-rate countries and territories, viral infections are more likely to cause hotspots in people who have not been vaccinated or who have been vaccinated with a less effective vaccine. High vaccination. “We can reverse the situation where the virus is generally under control, but depending on the variations we are seeing new case outbreaks in certain parts of the world. Each country has to comply with international travel restrictions. This is a possibility. We are at the beginning of our knowledge about this virus.