Seychelles sees an increase in corona virus cases despite vaccinations

Mary Niez, a call center operator in the Seychelles, was eager to get vaccinated. Like most of the people living in the small island nation, he was vaccinated against the Chinese synoform in March and was looking forward to the idea of ​​being fully protected in a few weeks.

On Sunday, he tested positive for the corona virus.

“I was shocked,” Ms Niez, 30, isolates at home. He said he had lost the sense of smell and taste and had a slight sore throat. “The vaccine should protect us – not from the virus, but from the symptoms,” he said. “I was precautionary after precaution.”

China expects its synoform vaccines to be the lynchpin of the country’s vaccination diplomacy program – an easy-to-carry dose that will protect not only Chinese citizens, but most of developing countries. In a bid to win goodwill, China has donated 13.3 million synopharmaceuticals to other countries. Bridge Beijing, A consultation monitoring China’s impact on world health.

Instead, the company, which manufactures two types of corona virus vaccines, faces growing questions about vaccines. First, there was a lack of transparency with its post-test data. Now, the Seychelles, the world’s most vaccinated country, has seen an increase in cases despite a large number of people being vaccinated with synoform.

For 56 countries counting synoform shots to help prevent infection, the news is a setback.

For months, public health professionals have been focusing on trying to close the access gap between rich and poor countries. Now, scientists warn that developing countries that choose to use Chinese vaccines may, with their weaker performance rates, lag behind countries that choose vaccines made by Pfizer-BioEntech and Moderna. That gap will allow countries with limited resources to continue to fight the epidemic.

“You have to use high-performance vaccines to get that economic benefit, otherwise they are going to live with this disease for a long time,” said Raina McIntyre, head of the survival program at the Kirby Institute at the new university. South Wales in Sydney, Australia. “Selection of Vaccine Matters.”

The effects are not clear anywhere other than the Seychelles, which relied heavily on the synoform vaccine to vaccinate more than 60 percent of its population. The tiny island nation in the Indian Ocean, northeast of Madagascar and with a population of just over 100,000, is battling a virus outbreak and will have to pay the lock again.

Of the people vaccinated with the two doses, 57 percent were given synoform and 43 percent were given astraZeneca. Thirty-seven percent of the new active cases are fully vaccinated, according to the Ministry of Health, which did not say how many of them were shot by synoform.

Dr. Kim Mulholland, a pediatrician at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute in Melbourne, Australia, said, “On its surface, this is a dangerous discovery.” He has been involved in overseeing several vaccine tests, including a covit. 19 Vaccine.

Dr Mulholland said initial reports from the Seychelles were linked to a 50 per cent efficacy rate for the vaccine, instead of the 78.1 per cent rate claimed by the company.

“We expect a country where the majority of the adult population is vaccinated with a better vaccine to see the disease melt away,” he said.

Scientists say breakthrough infections are normal because no vaccine is 100 percent effective. But the experience in the Seychelles was completely different for Israel, which has the second highest vaccine protection in the world and Was able to defeat the virus. One study shows that the Pfizer vaccine used by Israel is 94 percent effective in preventing the spread. On Wednesday, The World’s Data Program reported that the number of newly confirmed Covid-19 cases per million people in the Seychelles daily was 2,613.38, compared to 5.55 in Israel.

Seychelles President Wavell Ramkalavan, Defended the country’s vaccination program, Synoform and Astrogeneca vaccines “have served our people well,” he said. He pointed out that the synoform vaccine was given to people between the ages of 18 and 60, and that 80 percent of the patients who had to be admitted to the hospital were not vaccinated at all.

“People may be infected, but they are not sick. There are only a small number of them, ”he told the Seychelles News Agency. “So what happens is normal.”

Sylvester Rodegonde, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Tourism, said the increase in cases in the Seychelles was partly due to the fact that people had reduced their security. According to To the Seychelles News Agency. Sinoform did not respond to a request for comment.

In response An article A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman accused the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman of trying to discredit the Chinese vaccine and developing a “mindset that China should soften everything involved”.

At a news conference, Kate O’Brien, director of the World Health Organization’s Office for Immunizations, said the company was assessing an increase in infections in the Seychelles and that the situation was “complex.” Last week, the World Health Organization approved the synoform vaccine for emergency use, raising hopes of ending the global distribution crisis.

“Some of the reported cases occur after a single dose or after a second dose or between the first and second doses,” he said.

According to Ms O’Brien, the WHO is currently monitoring strains circulating in the country, with cases occurring when someone received drugs and with the severity of each case. “Only by doing that kind of assessment can we assess whether these are vaccine failures,” he said.

But it is becoming increasingly clear that some scientists have not provided a clear path toward immunization of the synoform vaccine herd, especially considering the many variants that appear worldwide.

John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University, said governments that use the synoform vaccine should “plan accordingly, taking into account the significant failure rate”. “You have to warn the public that you still get a good chance of infection.”

Many in the Seychelles say the government has not come.

“My question is: why did they push everyone to take it?” Said Diana Lucas, a 27-year-old employee who tested positive He said he received the second dose of the synoform vaccine on May 10, February 10.

Emmanuel Horev, a 22-year-old public prosecutor, tested positive On May 6 after receiving the second dose of the synoform vaccine in March. “It doesn’t make sense,” he said. He said the government had failed to provide enough information to the people about the vaccines.

“They didn’t explain to people about the real situation,” he said. “It’s a big deal – a lot of people suffer.”

Mrs. Horace’s mother, Jacqueline Pille, is a nurse at a private clinic in the capital, Victoria. He believes there has been a new variation in the Seychelles with the arrival of foreigners in recent months. The tourism-based country opened its borders on March 25 to most travelers without any isolation.

Ms Pille, 58, said: “People are very scared right now,” when you give people the right information, people will not guess. “

Health officials recently appeared on television to encourage those who took only the first dose of the synoform vaccine to return to the second shot. But Ms Pille said the public health commissioner was frustrated that the vaccines were not working and did not know why.

“I don’t think a lot of people came back,” Ms Pillai said.

Marietta Lapros, Elsie Sen. And Claire Fu Contributing research.