CCC applauds government’s efforts in speeding up vaccination drive

The government’s efforts in speeding up the vaccination drive across the country was well received by the local business community as it is the only viable path to facilitate the reopening of the country, Sri Lanka’s largest oldest business chamber said.

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC), while commending President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for taking the necessary efforts to ensure citizens across the island are inoculated at the earliest, it expressed that vaccinating a significant proportion of the population is the only sustainable solution to overcome challenges posed by the pandemic.

 In a statement to the media yesterday, the association said it hopes the acceleration of the vaccination drive will pave the way to open the country gradually facilitating both tourism and business travel, a necessity to promote trade and investment.

“This will eventually help to restore economic activity to pre-pandemic levels in the near future enabling all segments of the population to rebuild their livelihoods,” the Chamber said.

As the government has been successful in obtaining vaccination via multiple channels, the CCC urged the relevant authorities to introduce a more streamlined process so that the congestion and time spent by citizens at or near vaccination centres is reduced.

It stressed that if required it will step in to mobilise more resources from the private sector, including those from the well-established network of private hospitals, to reduce the burden on the State machinery to implement the vaccination programme.

“This can be done while adhering strictly to guidelines set by the Health Ministry, similar to the manner in which testing and the operation of intermediate treatment centres are being carried out,” it said.