Mobile vaccination centres in CMC area

Lack of interest among public in getting second AZ jab detected

Mobile vaccination centres would be set up in the Colombo Municipal Council area soon, General Shavendra Silva, Head of The National Operation Centre for Prevention of COVID 19 Outbreak (NOCPCO) told the media yesterday.

The Army was planning to go from one neighbourhood to another to vaccinate people, General Silva said.

The decision to launch the mobile service was made at the NOCPCO meeting held on Thursday evening.

General Silva added that more than one million jabs of Sinopharm had been allocated for the second dose and that most people had been given the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

“We have observed that some people who had the first dose of AstraZeneca are not interested in getting the second dose even though wee have 24-hour vaccination centrs,” the Army Commander said, noting that most of the people who died of Covid-19 had not been fully vaccinated.

General Silva added that vaccination alone was not enough to stave of the virus, and good health practices such as wearing face masks, mainataing physical distance and washing hands had to be followed.

The Army Commander said that although public attention was on the protests, a number of people who had attended weddings that were held, violating guidelines, are posing a bigger problem.

“On Wednesday (04) a wedding in Anuradhapura was attended by more than 350 persons. About 50-60 of them have tested positive for COVID-19.

All that we can do is to establish vaccination centres but the problem lies with the supply of oxygen, etc. We need to look after our medical staff and health sector workers to sustain operations,” he added.