‘Vaccination key to ending pandemic’

Vaccination is essential to ending the pandemic and the only way to get rid of a viral disease is to raise the level of immunity of the people in the country, Professor of Community Medicine at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Colombo Dr. Manuj Weerasinghe said.

Speaking at a media conference held yesterday at the Government Information Department,  Prof Weerasinghe said that vaccination was the ultimate weapon as well as the major means of prevention.

He said that the vaccination of groups over 60 and 30 years of age has been completed significantly and the mortality rate of those who have not been vaccinated is increasing while the mortality rate of those who have been vaccinated is very low.

Prof. Weerasinghe emphasized that the vaccine was effective in counteracting the ill effects of diabetes and that it was effective in treating all ages.

He said that Sri Lanka’s population between the ages 20-30 is around 2.5 to 3 million and 400,000 of them have already been vaccinated within around two to three weeks.

He added that nearly 40,000 Sri Lankan students of this age group who went abroad for education and employment have already received that vaccination. Joining the media briefing Director of the Family Health Bureau of the Ministry of Health, Community Medicine Specialist Dr. Chithramalee De Silva said the youth have an undue fear over a negative impact on reproductive health through vaccinations based on various myths.

She added there is no connection between complications in reproductive health and the vaccine. Dr. De Silva said such claims have spread fast, adding however that these claims have no scientific basis. Dr. Chithramalee De Silva added the youth need not have an undue fear over vaccinations.