Abide by the WHO priority list

There seems to be no letup in the surge in spread of COVID 19 pandemic, despite the travel restrictions commenced on May 21 being still on. Although the number of persons reported as being infected with coronavirus seems to have come down from around 3500 in mid-May to little less than 3000 at the end of the month, the PCR tests too have reportedly been reduced from 27,000 to around 20,000 during the period. 

Now the daily COVID 19 death toll ranges between 30 and 50, an alarming number in a country like Sri Lanka. It is not clear if the situation would be satisfactory at least by June 7 when the restrictions are lifted, as has been announced by the authorities.

The country had managed to open almost all state and private institutions by the first week of April after the second wave of the pandemic in the country. But rejection of the advice of the public health officials to place travel restriction during the Sinhala and Hindu New Year period has led to the closure of the country again as a third wave with rapid infections and deaths being reported. We are going to lose more than two week’s economic gains apart from putting the lives of the people in danger in lieu of losing one week’s economic gains alone.
Let bygones be bygones. Vaccination of the people is now the only hope and the defence of the world against the coronavirus. Experts earlier had stated that about 60 to 70% of the population must be inoculated to reach what they call the “herd immunity” or “population immunity” – a situation where a community (the herd) becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of the disease from person to person unlikely. However, with the predominant variant of the coronavirus being prevalent in many countries, now they calculate the herd immunity threshold to be at least 80%.

However, it was only in late May the State Pharmaceutical Corporation has announced that it had placed orders for 32 million doses of Chinese Sinopharm and Russian Sputnik V vaccines, in spite of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa stating on April 26 that vaccinating citizens is the only solution to the COVID-19 pandemic. And the doses are expected to arrive in the country before December 31. Only a small amount of Chinese and Russian vaccines are currently in hand with the Health Ministry and with the shortage and the politicization of vaccine programme, the process is in chaos. 

With the members of Parliament jumping the vaccine queue, disregarding the World Health Organization’s guidelines for vaccination and the process was politicized and got out of hand. Now every group and profession has reasons to demand priority in the programme. Doctors justify and used their powers to vaccinate their family members, citing them as a priority group. This led to the other health workers to demand the same. The private bus owners threaten to strike work if their employees are not inoculated as a priority group. Teacher trade unions too are demanding vaccines. In vaccination centres it is alleged that influential people and people with connections are given priority. However, none of these groups top the WHO priority list.

Moratuwa Mayor Samanlal Fernando was seen on social media threatening the MOH responsible for the vaccination in the area that he would not allow the programme to go ahead unless his supporters are given the vaccine first. He is now in remand prison, thanks to social media. Yet his disclosure that what he did was to follow what was implemented in Kurunegala was not probed. Over 600,000 ordinary people, especially those who are above 60 years of age are left without the assurance of the second jab of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Now they fear to receive another brand of vaccine.

WHO’s priority list is based on the need to prevent deaths of vulnerable groups first and then to prevent the spread of the virus. Accordingly, the frontline health workers and the supportive security sector personnel would have to be the first group to be inoculated and then the senior citizens (over 65 years of age) should follow. The WHO has not recognized high risk areas in its priority list. It is a ploy by the politicians to vaccinate their supporters. Had the authorities abided by principles of the WHO, the vaccination programme in Sri Lanka would not have been in such a mess.