‘Living with Omicron does not mean doing nothing about Omicron’- WHO official

Booster- hesitancy is largely due to misinformation and disinformation that has been floated

Sri Lankan adverse event monitoring system is a regional model

Vaccine hesitancy is a serious threat to global health

The world still ‘has a job to finish’ in terms of bridging vaccine inequality – WHO special envoys

BY RANDIMA ATTYGALLE

Despite the availability of an abundant vaccine supply against COVID-19, less than 35% of Sri Lankans over 12 years have taken the booster dose. Health officials are concerned about this low level of booster intake in a context where more than 95% Lankans over 12 years have received the first dose and nearly 80% of them have also received the second jab.

The floating of misinformation and disinformation both through mainstream and social media is largely attributed to this. Speaking to the Sunday Island, Dr. Palitha Abeykoon, WHO Director-General’s Special Envoy (for South East Asian region for COVID-19) said that Sri Lanka has been one of the most ‘vaccine-compliant countries’ and therefore the vaccine hesitancy which is encountered right now comes as a surprise.

“Even before the advent of the COVID pandemic, in 2019 WHO ranked vaccine hesitancy (which is either the delay in the acceptance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccine services) as a serious threat to global health.”

Omicron variant is far more transmissible than the earlier variants and therefore its spread is very rapid. “With the evidence that we have where the vaccine effectiveness seeming to wane slowly over a few months, getting a booster dose makes perfect scientific sense, particularly to prevent serious illness and death. Still many people do not seem to understand the difference between getting infected and the consequences,” remarked Dr. Abeykoon.

The vaccines as the public health official explained, does not prevent infection per se directly and even a vaccinated person can become COVID positive. “But the big difference is that if one has taken two doses and a booster at the correct time one will have the confidence that serious illness will not follow. The growing global evidence is supporting this position of the effectiveness of the vaccines and the booster taken after a certain interval from the second dose.”

The belief that Omicron variant is mild and therefore it is perhaps better to have Omicron and develop natural immunity than getting vaccinated is a risky attitude to have warns Dr. Abeykoon.

“The evidence is Omicron is possibly less severe than Delta but its higher transmissibility will give larger numbers of infections. This would lead to larger numbers getting serious illness and the pressure on health systems will increase. The number of deaths will also increase. Now the evidence that WHO has is that the numbers getting complications and dying are significantly higher for those who did not have at least two doses of vaccine. In Sri Lanka too there has been a near 30% increase in the deaths in the past weeks. Therefore still vaccination is a primary need along with the basic public health and social protection measures.”

Living with Omicron does not mean doing nothing about Omicron, reiterates the WHO official. Since people seem to get infected even after the booster, many question the need for it which is unwise thinking he said. “Getting infected per se is not as the same as getting seriously ill or dying.”

Another myth to be debunked is that the booster has many side effects and results in death. “The risk assessments done have given no such evidence to prove this. The Sri Lankan adverse event monitoring system is excellent; it is in fact a regional model and this too has no evidence to support this misconception.

“Some say that they are being used as guinea pigs here to test these vaccines. The vaccine trials and the follow-up have been going on for a couple of years for most vaccines and therefore this allegation is baseless. Of course being newer vaccines the WHO has advised close monitoring of the post vaccination situation globally,” Dr. Abeykoon remarked.

The fear of infertility is another major misconception to be debunked said the Consultant. There are also certain cultural and religious beliefs which preclude some wanting to take injections. “Getting vaccinated is a choice one makes but we have situations when there is a conflict of personal choice and public good. There are technical and ethical issues contained in this situation.”

In the region Sri Lanka already stands out as a leader in COVID-19 vaccination programme which further consolidates our ‘vaccination tradition’ Dr. Abeykoon pointed out. “There are a few countries that have not been able to cover 40% of the population with two doses, mainly due to supply and delivery issues. In fact we have already surpassed the WHO June global target of 60%.”

To date, and despite WHO’s endless efforts with Member States to deliver lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines to the world’s least-developed countries, through COVAX, particularly, as well as other facilities, there are still 83 Member States which did not reach the target of vaccinating 40% of their populations by the end of 2021.

The latest communiqué by the WHO Director General Dr. Tedros’s Special Envoys for COIVD-19 notes ‘a persistent lack of solidarity accentuating the inequities and unfairness. And this means that even more countries are likely to fall short of the goal of vaccinating 70% of their population by mid-2022.’

On a positive note, Sri Lankan management of the pandemic and people’s compliance with public health measures have been laudable in contrast with some of the Western countries, pointed out the WHO official. “We also recognize the advent of COVID-19 fatigue among many groups and the social and economic implications that have hurt most groups. But the fact that they still, by and large, adhere to the basic prevention measure is heartening.”