Securing a vaccine against COVID-19 is a matter of top priority as Sri Lanka is nearing 50,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases, Dr L.A Ranasinghe, President of the Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) has said.

Dr. Ranasinghe has said in a media statement: “The death toll is on the rise. Economy has received a death blow. However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel as several vaccines are getting lined up in the world as the only scientific battle against COVID-19. Close to 20 countries have already commenced vaccinating their population against Covid-19. Although countries differ in identifying their order of priority, they all have very clearly identified the dire need of commencing vaccination against this virus. The Association of Medical Specialists (AMS) firmly believes that vaccination is the best available solution Sri Lanka has at present to face Covid-19 along with other public health measures.”

Dr Ranasinghe said that there was a strong justification to use the vaccines currently approved in the rest of the world in our country as soon as possible. He added that it was misleading to state that these vaccines are still in the experimental stage.

“No time should be wasted to distract the vaccine effort with myths or unproven theories. The widely used vaccines that were born through extremely efficient and highly coordinated use of scientific research have also gone through stringent regulatory approvals from credible agencies which include the WHO. Further, they will have to be approved by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority too before its use in Sri Lanka. The AMS whilst appreciating the efforts of your excellency and the government for their proactive efforts, we wish to re-iterate the need for a well-coordinated and an efficient mechanism to speed up the process of securing the vaccine/s at this hour of need. We are aware of the global competition for securing the doses they need. It could be disastrous to entrust the total responsibility with regard to securing this to individuals or officials who function at a snail’s pace.”

Excerpts of the media statement: “We wish to alert authorities that some may adopt delaying tactics deliberately for various reasons. Some officials in the Ministry of health have track records for ‘delays’ in many tasks they were assigned in the past. Sri Lanka stands out in the world map for our strong public health services and that has beaten even many developed countries, with our vaccine coverage and acceptance being among the best in the world. With the high literacy rate and efficient public health network, mass vaccination is nothing new to our health services. Being an island with secure borders and a population of only 21 million, we are a country where vaccinating the entire eligible population including the country’s total work force on a priority order is a realistic and feasible option. It is also a worthwhile investment, not only for health but also the economic benefits it will deliver. This will place us in a unique situation, with our ability to fully open the country where factories and tourism and our economy can jump ahead of many others, making Sri Lanka one of the safest countries in the world to travel and to deal with. It is best that we take advantage of our unique circumstances. For the best outcome, extreme efficiency is a must and we will need top officials with a proven track record handing our vaccine effort.”

“The AMS wishes to propose that we resort to a multi-pronged effort to reach success fast. It should include prompt and efficient response in obtaining the free quota of vaccines offered for 20% of our population through the COVAX facility, negotiating with various sources and countries to obtain or buy more doses to cover the balance population, and permitting and facilitating the private sector also to import, distribute and vaccinate, with state monitoring to help effective coverage of the population who could afford the vaccine privately. AMS will extend its maximum support to make this effort a grand success.”