Man who took two doses of AstraZeneca vaccine dies from coronavirus in Seychelles
- The island nation’s public health commissioner didn’t say how long ago the 54-year-old had taken his shot
- The archipelago had raced to immunise its population so it could reopen to the tourists who are the lifeblood of its economy
The man, who was 54, is the first fully vaccinated person in the country to die of Covid-19, Jude Gedeon, the island nation’s public health commissioner, said at a press conference. He didn’t say how long ago the man had taken his vaccine or whether the case is being investigated by AstraZeneca.
While the country of 98,000 people has inoculated a greater proportion of its population than any other, it has seen a surge in infections, raising questions about the efficacy of vaccines as Covid-19 variants become more prevalent. So far, 68 per cent of its people have received two doses of a vaccine.
Seychelles has used Sinopharm and Covishield, a version of the AstraZeneca shot made under license in India, for almost all of its vaccinations. While the government has said that Covishield had been allocated mainly to people over 60 years of age in Seychelles it has, on occasion, been given to younger people.
The palm-fringed, Indian Ocean archipelago had raced to immunise its population so it could reopen to the tourists who are the lifeblood of its economy.
The government said last month that non-vaccinated citizens were six times more likely to develop Covid-19 than those who have taken the inoculations.