Rwandans, like many around the world, are emerging from the festive season, leaving behind yet another difficult year. The year 2021, like the one before it, was overshadowed by the Covid-19 pandemic, whether in terms of the associated public health challenges, vaccinations, or economic difficulties, among others. Yet, we enter the New Year with the same old problems inherited from recent years, particularly Covid-19. While the festive season and the year 2022 arrived at a time of soaring Covid cases in Rwanda and around the world, thanks in the large part to the new Omicron variant, many are hoping for a better year ahead, especially as far as the pandemic is concerned. There is cautious optimism among some in the science community that the emergence of Omicron, a much milder variant compared to previous strains of the virus, could be a sign that the pandemic is probably entering the last phase of its acute stage. This is indeed what everyone hopes for as we begin a new year, but of course it’s still too early to tell, especially with all the uncertainties that have surrounded Covid-19 since it first arrived and the history of virus mutations. But one of the main silver linings in this battle is recent progress in the global vaccination effort, with evidence increasingly showing that both primary vaccine series and booster shots have proved to be vitally important in preventing severe illness and hospitalizations. Indeed, the majority of countries around the world met their Covid-19 vaccine targets for the year 2021, and the exercise is expected to continue in earnest in the New Year. In Rwanda, more than 40 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated by Christmas, hitting its target for the year that just ended. However, the health threat posed by Covid-19 remains, so are the challenges associated with the pandemic. As such, there is an acute need for everyone, every parent, educationist, student, employer, professional, every business, service provider, for every frontliner, every citizen and resident of Rwanda to remain vigilant by observing all the Covid-19 SOPs and complying with all the other guidelines. In addition, we must all continue to seek self-improvement in what we do, whether in private business or public service, whether in a start-up or scale-up endeavour, or studying, if we are to make this year fruitful. We should all look to work harder and grow together in the New Year while having a positive impact on our communities and country.
