Vaccine hesitancy among youth: UNP blames Govt

by Ifham Nizam

Majority of university students have turned down getting COVID-19 vaccination as they preferred to get Pfizer vaccines rather than Chinese vaccines, university sources said.

The University Grants Commission made arrangements that university students to get their vaccines at the nearest university premises until Friday (15).

However, according to the health authorities, the turnout of the university students at the vaccination centres are not up to the expectations. They said that there was low youth turnout at COVID-19 vaccination centres at universities with students saying that they would forego campus-administered jab in favour of the Pfizer vaccine.

Deputy Director General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said that it was important that students are vaccinated before academic activity resumes in state universities. He said that the turnout had been slightly low because of students being choosy. “It has to be said that we are getting a limited number of vaccines like Pfizer which the youth prefer to have,” he said.

Vaccinating students, academic and non-academic staff aged 20 to 29 commenced on last Monday (11) at all government universities and continued till Friday. Vaccination centres had been established in university premises in all universities and university affiliates, the University Grants Commission said.

Professor of Community Health at the Medical Faculty of the University of Colombo, Manju Weerasinghe said that there had been some myths about vaccines in social media. He urged the youth not to listen to baseless opinions expressed by certain persons with commercial interests, and take the vaccines against the COVID-19 pandemic at the first available opportunity.

Prof Weerasinghe said that there was no scientific basis to the statements made by certain persons that sexual impotence and infertility are caused in the human body due to the vaccine. He urged the youth not to fall prey to such false opinions and act wisely, protect themselves and the country as well.

UNP Deputy Leader Ruwan Wijewardene said that the youth were reluctant to get vaccinated against COVID-19 because the government had bungled the process of administering them.

Wijewardene said that less than 40 percent of youth between 20 and 29 years of age had obtained at least a single dose of the anti-Covid vaccine. “They delay getting the vaccines because the government has not provided them with the vaccines that they prefer. For example, university students have been asked to visit the Army Hospital in Colombo to receive Moderna vaccine. When they went there they found that instead of Moderna the troops were ready to administer a Chinese vaccine. So they turned back rejecting the Chinese vaccine,” Wijewardene said.

Instead of blaming the youth, the government should understand their concerns. “Some youth are under the impression that the vaccine and its effects are for life time. So, they prefer Moderna and Pfizer saying that the European countries would give visas only to those who have obtained those brands of vaccine. A large number of youth are planning to go abroad and their concerns are reasonable. They think that obtaining another brand, including those produced in China, would deprive them of their chance to leave the country for higher education or job opportunities. The problem is becoming worse because a large number of youth are refusing to get the vaccine. Their demand is that they should receive the vaccine of their choice,” Wijewardene said.

The UNP Deputy Leader said that there was no other government in the entire history that had let the youth down so much. “Youth have become so frustrated. They are frustrated because they cannot see any progressive future for them in this country. The government is in a forex crisis and has started selling off national assets to collect dollars. There are shortages of milk-powder, gas, rice and sugar. Rice millers are planning to give up their trade. Schools and universities are shut down. In the face of this crisis, could anyone expect youth to decide to stay in this country for the rest of their lives? Hundreds of thousands of youth are planning to leave the country after the government reopens it. Many would go through legal routes while others will chose any method feasible for them,” Wijewardene said.