JAKARTA (UCAN): Timor-Leste launched a Covid-19 vaccination drive on June 14, targeting students and lecturers to speed up efforts to reopen universities.
Beginning with the National University of Timor-Leste (UNTL), the country’s largest, and the drive see the administering of doses of the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine.
Higher Education, Science and Culture minister, Longuinhos dos Santos, said the aim is to inoculate at least 67,000 students, lecturers and staff from public and private universities in Dili.
“Face-to-face activities at basic education and higher education institutions, especially in Dili, have been suspended for several months. For this reason, the vaccination programme, which started today, represents a move towards happiness and hope,” he said.
“We all want to prevent the spread of Covid-19 and normalise the lives of our citizens. In the specific case of higher education institutions, we intend to resume face-to-face activities as soon as possible,” dos Santos said.
He said that when everyone is vaccinated, he would coordinate with the Ministry of Health to reopen campuses and that similar efforts would be made to vaccinate students in other parts of the country as soon as possible.
China’s ambassador to Timor-Leste, Xiao Jianguo, said he was pleased that the Sinovac vaccine was being used in the recovery effort and urged students to register to be vaccinated.
Hirondina Ribeiro Gonçalves, a UNTL law student, said that although she was still concerned about reported side-effects of vaccines, she would be vaccinated as she was frustrated with online lectures.
“They are very difficult for us because of the poor quality of the Internet connection,” she remarked, adding, “The lecturer told me that if we were all vaccinated, then lectures would be conducted in class again.”
Timor-Leste’s Covid-19 vaccination efforts have contributed to a significant reduction in daily cases, especially in capital Dili, the worst-hit area.
Fifty-six new infections were recorded on June 14, down from two weeks previously when the number of positive cases were more than 200 per day. The country has 1,489 active cases from a total of 8,341, with 19 deaths.
At least 12 per cent of the population over 18-years-old have received their first shot of the vaccine.
Church leaders, including Archbishop Virgilio Do Carmo da Silva of Dili, have been actively involved in encouraging people to be vaccinated.
He was one of the first public figures to receive a vaccine along with prime minister, Taur Matan Ruak, and other government officials when the rollout began on April 7.
