Johnston claims vaccination programme a success

.. confident country will emerge victorious in battle against virus

The biggest vaccine drive in the country’s history was making massive strides with a record number of people being inoculated, Chief Government Whip Highways Minister Johnston Fernando said yesterday.

Addressing the media during an inspection tour of a vaccination centre at the Nissanka Vidyalaya in Kurunegala, the Minister said that high spirits and hard work of health workers and security forces had made COVID-19 vaccination drive a success.

“I thank our frontline workers, who are tirelessly waging a war on the virus to save lives. The vaccination drive is now in progress and being expanded to cover other districts under the guidance of President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. It’s a huge success.”

The Minister said that the Opposition parties finding fault with the government for not commencing the vaccination process were now trying to find faults with the ongoing programme. “Thank God they were not in power at a time like this. Can anyone imagine how the Yahapalana government would have conducted a massive national drive of this nature? They could not even distribute free school uniforms to children under their government. I saw on TV Opposition members going on criticizing the national vaccination drive. Their criticisms would not last long because we would complete this very soon by vaccinating all our people. So I am telling them to find some new slogans, because they may need them sooner than they expect.

“We are fully confident in the country’s robust healthcare system and the entire staff members of the healthcare sector. They have the assistance of police and security forces. Soon we will complete this drive. Thereafter life gradually will return to normalcy and we will lift restrictions. We are confident that our nation will be able to successfully manage the current situation through vaccination, similar to the successful results achieved in the United States, the United Kingdom and a number of European countries through vaccination.

“We call on the people to take the current situation seriously and also the officials to follow proper procedures  to ensure that the lives of the people are not disrupted and that the essential services of the country are maintained when imposing these restrictions. These are trying times. It is in times like these the courage and perseverance of the nations are tested. These are the times when nations are redefined.  We are sure that we as a nation will emerge victorious in this battle against the pandemic and everyone who took part in it will have the respect and gratitude of the nation,” the Minister said.