‘Countries can independently acquire vaccines through bilateral agreements’ – WHO rep for Seychelles |30 January 2021

Dr Gakuruh

Last week, Seychelles NATION contacted the World Health Organisation (WHO) representative for Seychelles, Dr Teniin Gakuruh, to talk about the vaccine Sinopharm and the surge of positive cases of Covid-19 in the country.

What is the WHO’s point of view of the Sinopharm? Dr Gakuruh noted that “Sinopharm has not yet received WHO Emergency Use List ( EUL) status. However, please note that countries can independently acquire, through bilateral agreements, vaccines or other products informed by decisions of globally reputable regulatory bodies”.

Talking about the increasing number of cases in Seychelles, Dr Gakuruh explained that “from the information availed to WHO, the current case load is mainly from specific clusters. Although the trend is encouraging due to government-wide public and social health measures applied from end year surge, it is still too early to determine an actual downward trend. MoH has additionally put in place requisite measures for early detection, isolation and managing cases and suspects within the current cluster, mainly IOT which is crucial in controlling and disrupting further transmission. MoH has enhanced infection prevention and control measures in health facilities and other establishments including refresher trainings for health workforce, which is crucial considering those affected from early stages of the current surge”.

Dr Gakuruh noted that the above mentioned concerted response measures takes cognizance of regular MoH briefing.

Vidya Gappy