This Tuesday 10 August will be marked by 10 patients admitted to the ENT Hospital in Vacoas. The Ministry of Health recorded 91 other asymptomatic cases for a total of 101 active cases. However, it is the vaccination campaign for the second doses that is prickling the public.
As of 10 August, 728,240 people have received their first dose of Covid-19 vaccine and 582,648 have received their second. This is good news for the statistics and for the government’s wish to achieve herd immunity through vaccination. But the second dose campaign is being described as poorly organised despite the great motivation by the health minister, Dr. Kailesh Jagutpal and his ministry.
Over 4 hours of wait adventure
The citizens came on an appointment basis after being notified by SMS. However, there are some vaccination centres which proceeded in alphabetical order. On one hand, the queue was endless by several hundred while on the other hand, it moved at a snail’s pace, for instance at Triolet and Vacoas, some have waited for more than 4 hours. Some went there between 09:00 and 10:00 and were still there at 14:30! Many were forced to leave the queue and return to their homes and activities at the expense of their second doses. And yet, he knew very well how many people were coming and how this situation should be handled.
Lack of staff
According to people queuing outside: “We were told that there is a lack of staff in the centres and that they are appealing to our understanding to provide us with our patience. It shouldn’t even have been that disorganised and slow because like us, people came after receiving a text. There are many people who are old and they were not prepared to wait so many hours under the changing weather conditions of this period, from cold to rain, from light to heavy.” At the Vacoas centre, there were some elderly people who felt a change in their physical state, some were dizzy, others were coughing and others stifled under their masks that they kept on a little too long for their physical condition.
New schools closed
Today, we note the forced closure of some schools. In the list of those that will be closed for two days is Shambhoonath Government School where a case was found on a pupil. At Madad Ul Islaam College in Port Louis, a female student has contracted the virus, a similar case at Lorette in Rose Hill where a positive case was found in a Grade 12 student. At John Kennedy College in Beau Bassin, the positive case was discovered in a Grade 13 student.
