Sports Minister Namal Rajapaksa says that Sri Lanka will be the highest ranking country in South Asia in terms of vaccination in the future. Sri Lanka is becoming the country which uses the best corona vaccines available in the world. He said that steps will be taken to visit to the vaccination centers throughout the country and discuss with the health officials who carry out the vaccination process at those centers and find out the facilities required for them and make the necessary coordination to carry out the vaccination properly. Also steps will be taken to encourage the people, including the youth, to make the vaccination program a success throughout the country he added.
He also said that the as well as controlling the spread of this epidemic, the government is once again taking all necessary measures to normalize the lives of the people, the economy, the education of children and the social life. Accordingly, the President and the government are paying special attention to reopen the tourism industry, he said.
The Minister pointed out that when our country reopens to tourists from around the world, the vast majority of other tourist destinations such as Ella, that means more than three million people will be able to find employment opportunities again and in places such as BOI Industrial Estates, other factories, economic hubs that bring foreign exchange into the country and for fishing harbours vaccination will be done rapidly.
Minister Namal Rajapaksa was speaking to the media after inspecting the administration of the Covid 19 vaccine to those engaged in tourism in the Ella area. The Chinese embassy also announced that the vaccination rate in Sri Lanka has become the highest in the world in the past seven days.
Vaccination is now taking place throughout the country. That is true. However, nearly 600,000 people who received the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine are still at uncertainty about the second dose. It is too late to give them a second dose. Although it is said that a quantity of this vaccine will be received from Japan in the near future, it cannot be believed until it is received. However, it could not be assure that all those who received the first dose will receive the second dose. Those who received Covshields have to beg for the second dose today.
Also, the most significant thing here is what the Army Commander had said recently. According to him, there is a problem in obtaining data because the health sector records these in books. Hence, there is no information on the 300,000 who received this vaccine.
However, when we inquired about this, it was revealed that the stock of vaccines was kept in the custody of the doctors at that time and there were some people who had given the vaccine without filling forms on their identity. Perhaps this information deficiency could be theirs.
Plans are now afoot to open the country to tourists from next month. That is to allow those who have received both doses to travel. But we cannot ignore the risk of the return of various mutants to Sri Lanka through them.
Also, online education of children has collapsed today. Crises of unemployment have arisen. In such a context, is it enough for us to being in forefront by vaccination? Isn’t that something to reconsider ?
-Shani-