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The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) commends the Government of Mauritius for a systematic national COVID-19 vaccination program. Following the UN secretary general’s appeal to all member states to leave no one behind this is an important step towards response to the pandemic.
“The UN is pleased to note that people like migrant workers will be included and continues to hope that all peoples of concern will be covered”. Christine N Umutoni UN Resident Coordinator for Mauritius and Seychelles. The government has announced that vaccines will be accessible to all foreigners domiciled in Mauritius above the age of 18 holding necessary permits. Diplomats and UN personnel plus their dependents will be vaccinated in the same program
On 5th March the national leaders will lead by example, on the 6th parliament will follow then the nation-wide COVID-19 vaccination starts Monday March 8 to all Mauritian citizens plus foreigners domiciled in Mauritius over 18 years of age and holding the necessary permits. The vaccination campaign was started on 26th January 2021 giving priority to frontline workers including health care professionals, employees of the tourism industry as well as senior citizens and those with underlying medical conditions. The Covid-19 vaccine will be administered in the five regional hospitals for the next two weeks and in mobile clinics placed in various parts of the country.
The ultimate objective of the vaccination campaign is to cover 60% of the country’s population. "The vaccination campaign will enable Mauritius to review the conditions of entry of passengers to Mauritius and allow the tourism sector, which was the economic sector most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic, to restart” said the minister of health Dr. Kailesh Jagutpal
The United Nations appreciates the decisive actions taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 from the very beginning of the crisis. Partnership with Government and people of Mauritius and development partners will continue to support a multi-sector response to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. WHO has supported the vaccination campaign through regular support to the ministry of health as member of the high level committee of COVID-19 offering global guidelines and contributed to the acquisition of vaccines. UNDP supported acquisition of vaccines by providing 2 M USD at the beginning of the year. UN agencies including UNEP, FAO and ILO are working on green recovery, while IOM, UNAIS, UNWOMEN, UNHCR and OHCHR continue to advocate for peoples of concern. Agencies like ECA, UNDP and UNESCO are involved in different research while UNWTO, UNODC, UNIDO, UNHABITAT, IFAD and IAEA are supporting different parts of the social economic response plan. Other agencies will continue to support various efforts contributing to national efforts to recover better and continue the path to achieving the SDGs.
Mauritius is a small island state in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, as of 28th February 2021 the country had registered 619 total cases, 588 recovered 10 deaths and with 20 active cases.
Since May 2020 Mauritius is a COVID-19 safe country where there are no community cases. This is attributed to the fact that Mauritius observes strictest Covid-19 protocols and is regarded as having one of the world’s best responses to the pandemic
Oxford University Stringency Index which tracks government policy and action regarding the Covid-19 pandemic has given the country a very high rating.
