The Ministry of Health announced on Sunday, February 14, that they had started inoculating some of the most at-risk people in the country, against the coronavirus pandemic. According to the ministry, the most at-risk groups to be first to benefit from the vaccination programme are frontline health workers but they said that the available doses are still in small quantities, with more expected in the next few days. The latest doses were obtained through international partnerships, according to the health ministry, with much bigger consignments expected to come through different channels including the Covax facility and the Africa Union. That we have started vaccinating is a good development. It calls for celebration. But not so fast. We are very far from overcoming the threat that is caused by the virus which has been with us for nearly a year now. Any celebration by way of letting our guard down in terms of adhering to measures in place to contain the virus will only lead to devastating results. The government is working with its multilateral partners to secure as many doses to ensure as many Rwandans as possible are inoculated, especially the most vulnerable, but this will only work if we as the public continue playing our part. First, according to scientists, many of the vaccines currently on the market are delivered in two doses, meaning that it will be after the second dose that one will be expected to have built resilience in their immune system. WHO scientists are still working to establish the time it takes for one who has received their second dose will have built that immune system. It is therefore still a work in progress on many fronts. With the devastating effects the virus has had on our lives, we cannot afford to be complacent, just because vaccination has begun. The end could be in sight but getting there remains a lengthy and arduous journey. We should only draw inspiration in the numbers that are being registered in the past few days; which have been on the decline and this is because of the seriousness that we as a people are taking this pandemic. However, you still get cases of people locking themselves up cramped in homes drinking and merrymaking, in total disregard of the measures in place to contain the virus. Such reckless behavior shall only set us back. We cannot afford that. The devastation – in terms of human loss; economic impact and others such as months of our children out of school should be enough to inspire us to work hard to beat the virus.
