Seychelles become first in Africa to roll out vaccine

The Seychelles have become the first country in Africa to roll out a COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, January 10.

President Wavel Ramkalawan was the first to receive a jab of the Chinese manufactured the Sinopharm vaccine. The United Arab Emirates has donated 50,000 doses of the vaccine to the country, according to a presidential statement.

‘With such a robust vaccination campaign, Seychelles aims to be the first country in the world to vaccinate at least 70% of its over-18 population. From there we will be able to declare Seychelles as being Covid safe,’ Ramkalawan said.

Minister of Tourism and Foreign Affairs Sylvestre Radegonde said this is a step towards regaining tourism in Seychelles. ‘The Covid-19 immunisation campaign is an important milestone for the restart of our tourism industry as the country balances its efforts to maintain its tourism activities and protect its population from further spread of the virus,’ he said according to IOL.