Some vaccines help nations exit the pandemic faster than others
22 May 2021 - 15:33
File photo: A researcher works inside a laboratory during the development of the Italian ReiThera COVID-19 vaccine, in this undated handout photo in Rome, Italy. ReiThera/Handout via Reuters/File Photo
Bloomberg
With hundreds of millions of people now vaccinated against Covid-19, the coronavirus outbreak should begin to die down in places where a large chunk of the population has been inoculated.
But that isn’t happening everywhere.
Instead, two paths are emerging: In countries such as Israel, new Covid cases are declining as vaccinations spread, while in other places like the Seychelles which has fully inoculated more of its population than any other nation infections continue to increase or even reach new highs.
With hundreds of millions of people now vaccinated against Covid-19, the coronavirus outbreak should begin to die down in places where a large chunk of the population has been inoculated. But that isn’t happening everywhere.
Read more about How some vaccines are helping nations to exit Covid faster than others on Business Standard. Messenger RNA shots developed by Moderna or Pfizer and BioNTech are better at stopping people from becoming contagious, shows evidence.
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The small archipelago nation of Seychelles, northeast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean, has emerged as the world’s most vaccinated country for COVID-19.
Around 71% of people have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine, and 62% have been fully vaccinated. Of these, 57% have received the Sinopharm vaccine, and 43% AstraZeneca.
Despite this, there has been a recent surge in cases, with 37% of new active cases and 20% of hospital cases being fully vaccinated. The country has had to reimpose some restrictions.
How can this be happening? There are several possible explanations:
the herd immunity threshold has not been reached 62% vaccination is likely not adequate with the vaccines being used
If this is true, which vaccines a country can secure could affect everything from policy about mask-wearing and social distancing to lifting border restrictions and reviving economies, given the influence that daily case counts have on government decisions. For individuals it may determine how soon they regain pre-pandemic freedoms.