The need for vaccination and masking

First, I will give the bad news. Princetown is a fishing village in Massachusetts the USA. This region has achieved a high rate of vaccination against Covid. While Massachusetts is the second highest state in the rate of vaccination, Princetown had vaccinated almost all of their population, above 12 years. Encouraged by this high rate of vaccination, Princetown did what it does best, partying. On 4th of July, in the warm Summer weather, thousands got into pubs, restaurants and beaches. By 12th of July, new cases of Covid started to crop up and soon there were 833 new cases. The bad news is that 73% of these cases were fully vaccinated. Moreover, studies, based on these cases, proved that the Delta variant is more transmissible than previously thought, in line with Chickenpox and Ebola.

Now for the good news. The good news is that only seven out of 833 cases, had to be hospitalised and nobody died. This proved that the vaccines were really good. Serious illness, in the vaccinated, was rare, and death was almost nil. The vaccines were found to be more effective compared to their performance in clinical trials. The other bit of good news is there is no evidence that Delta causes more severe illness than the original strain, though it replicates at a much faster rate and spreads faster. This may be because the virus knows it should not kill its host for it cannot survive without the host!

The USA government was thinking about fully opening the country, and lifting the safety measures’ like social distancing and wearing masks, as about 50% of the population has been vaccinated. Now the government may have to change these plans as the Delta variant shows a capability of spreading even among vaccinated people. This is the situation in the European countries, too. British PM Boris Johnson is supposed to have said “No more lockdowns. Let the bodies pile high”. However, bodies did not pile high, as sufficient numbers had been vaccinated and people wore masks. Where governments, and the people, had been careless, Covid has caused huge catastrophe. Indonesia is ravaged by the Delta variant and is paying the price for being lax with the preventive measures. So is Brazil. There is a lesson in all this for Sri Lanka, too.

The infection rate, in Princetown, due to the Delta variant, was swiftly brought down from 15% to 5.9% by strictly practicing preventive measures like wearing of masks and limits on indoor gathering. They didn’t have to go for a complete lockdown. The high rate of vaccination, made this possible. Adequate vaccination and masking, saved the day for Princetown. Health authorities and virologists now say the way to winning the war against the Delta is to achieve a high rate of vaccination and for people to wear masks when they go out.

There is a lesson the world can learn from what happened in Princetown. No one can lower guard just because he or she has received both jabs of the vaccine. The goal for the world would be to achieve vaccination of the global population, above 12 years of age, in adequate numbers, as quickly as possible, and then to follow the preventive measures that were successful in Princetown until the virus, unable to find hosts in sufficient numbers to replicate and spread, would lose the battle. Total lockdown, unless affordable as in Australia and China, could be avoided by adopting these methods.

The war against the virus would be won and we would be able to start a mask-less life only if and when the whole world is adequately vaccinated. Until then, everybody, whether vaccinated or not, will have to wear masks and follow the health guidelines. When we could achieve total victory would depend very much on the attitude of the 15 countries who are holding on to large stocks of vaccines, though WHO targets for vaccination in those countries have been reached. They are reluctant to release the vaccines for they fear that the need for a third jab may arise. They must realise that even a third jab may not protect them if a variant capable of bypassing the antibodies emerges in a country where the pandemic is rampant due to inadequate vaccination. A better insurance against variants would be to make available the vaccine to the poor countries as soon as possible. There are countries in the African continent where vaccination rate is very low and less that 1% has been given the jab. This sad state is due to the unavailability of vaccines. If this situation continues, the world will be ruled by Covid for years to come.

In Sri Lanka, the Delta variant is threatening to cause a huge devastation. The government is racing against time to get the people vaccinated. More than 300,000 are given the jab everyday. This is a good rate. People must take whatever vaccine is available as all vaccines are effective in preventing serious illness and death. The government, at this juncture, may not want to go for a total lockdown because of the economic situation. People must cooperate with the government if the looming disaster is to be avoided. All those who have got on to the street, with various grievances, genuine or not, must think of the grave risk they take. The whole country is placed at great peril due to their irresponsible actions. The country is at war with an invisible enemy. This is not the time to crowd the streets to support their demands. They could wait for better times. The government, too, could avoid attempting to get controversial legislations enacted during these times as people are unable to participate in the dialogue that must precede enactment of crucial acts of Parliament.

N.A.de S. Amaratunga