Dickson C. Igwe. Photo: VINO/File

The first choice is to lockdown and step back into mid-2020, and see the fragile economic recovery destroyed.

This is the worst of the options and will see further business bankruptcies and job loss. The country is already suffering increased poverty as a result of the Pandemic.

The second choice is to go on as now, as normal, keeping the country open, and to manage the pandemic with a ramped-up vaccination program.

This second choice also poses significant risks and carries caveats.

Can the country handle a large Covid 19 outbreak? In a country with residents who have significant underlying health conditions can the country manage the fallout in terms of illness and death?

The vaccination is meant to solve the preceding danger. Vaccination will not prevent infection. However, from the evidence abroad it significantly reduces the risk of infection, illness, and death.

Consequently, a ramped-up vaccination program is the solution, while we all live normally.

The BVI could have been close to the place where we need to be, not worrying too much about the dangers of Covid 19, had it not been for the conspiracy theories about the vaccine from ''specific quarters'' especially churches.

Consequently, residents who have not been vaccinated should do so immediately,  unless they are in danger owing to specific underlying medical conditions.

And the government and business community should carry on with economic recovery,  using the tool of vaccination to manage the crisis.

Connect with Dickson Igwe on Facebook and Twitter