Vaccination programme in a big mess

There have been numerous reports that the vaccination programme is going astray with local politicians giving lists of their favourites to those in charge of vaccination.

People from Maharagama visited a Nugegoda vaccination centre to get themselves vaccinated. It was reported that provincial counsellors, their families, and friends of PHIs, flocked to a vaccination centre at Mathugama with total disregard to the people waiting outside. I am aware how some people in Kandy got themselves vaccinated in Colombo. People queue up early in the morning, as early as 4 a.m., to get vaccinated and if they are lucky, they will still have to wait for 6-8 hours to get the vaccine. Why cannot the authorities concerned put together a better and a more orderly way to carry out this task? People struggle at the gates of vaccination centres where the one-metre rule is openly flayed. A friend of mine had to go for three days and finally got the vaccine after joining the queue at 4.30 am It still took eight hours to get the jab.

It is essential for more law and order and a proper system be introduced at vaccination centres. The police, or even the Army should be present to maintain law and order, and prevent any VIPs and favourites jumping the queue to get the vaccine. When people elected our President, one of the hopes that we voters had was that there would be discipline in all aspects of the society. They should also maintain the one-metre distance, since getting infected during this stampede is very high. The best choice is to carry out the programme at the Grama Niladhari division levels. The Grama Niladhari can ensure that only people in his/her division get vaccinated.

The exclusion of private hospitals in importing vaccines, in my opinion, is absurd. If they are allowed to import the vaccine, it will considerably ease the burden on the government since there are many who would prefer to pay money to avoid this hassle. There are older people, with heart problems, waiting for hours to get the vaccine and this will put their lives in jeopardy. This should be done under strict supervision of the Health authorities to ensure the quality of the vaccine, and the price as well. If private hospitals are allowed to do the PCR tests, then why can’t they be allowed to vaccinate defies simple logic.

The whole mechanism of vaccination is in utter disarray, even though we have a Cabinet Minister of Health and two state ministers to deal with the pandemic. My question is who decided to vaccinate those above 30 years, contravening the government’s pledge to the WHO that people above 60 years will receive priority after the essential services. This is the usual practice adopted in many countries. Then, suddenly someone decided to vaccinate those above 30 years.

Prof. O. A. ILEPERUMA