Features

COVID vaccine: Some vital information

Published

5 years ago

2021/03/17

MBBS(Cey), DCH(Cey), DCH(Eng), MD(Paed), MRCP(UK), FRCP(Edin), FRCP(Lon), FRCPCH(UK), FSLCPaed, FCCP, Hony FRCPCH(UK), Hony. FCGP(SL)

Specialist Consultant Paediatrician and Honorary Senior Fellow, Postgraduate Institute of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka.

I have written several articles in The Island about the COVID vaccine in the very recent past, where I discussed some important bits of information. This present effort is undertaken to provide some additional details regarding the current state-of-play in this vitally important endeavour, geared towards winning the war against this tiny, but unbelievably powerful blight of a coronavirus.

The vaccine is here now, in our land, albeit in rather limited quantities and, up to the present time, it has arrived in about three tranches or batches. What we have got down, is the Oxford-AstraZeneca viral vector type of vaccine. It uses an inactivated chimpanzee adenovirus as just a vehicle to get a component of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the COVID-19 disease, into the human body. This component then induces an immunological reaction in the recipient that induces the immune system of the body to recognise the spike protein of the virus, and mount an immunological reaction against it by producing antibodies. The spikes of the coronavirus are the all-important components that enable the virus to attach itself to human cells, particularly of the respiratory tract. The vaccine also induces the immunological system to develop antigenic memory where in any subsequent infection by the virus, the cells of the immune system react and produce antibodies to neutralise the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 disease. A second dose of the vaccine enhances the immunological capabilities of the body so that an immediate and sustained attack could be initiated quite rapidly, if and when the body is exposed to the pandemic virus.

The currently available vaccine in Sri Lanka was rolled out in the country from about mid-January, or so, this year. It was initially given to all frontline healthcare workers, the tri-forces and the police personnel who were involved in patient care, tracing of contacts and running the quarantine facilities. All these people belonged to a high-risk group who needed to be protected at all cost. Following the first dose, the recipients were requested to come back in four weeks for the second dose to complete the initial vaccination process. This procedure of administering the second dose was scheduled for the four-week period because the original clinical trials of all vaccines, except the single dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine, however were carried out with this time schedule. The studies showed a reasonable degree of protection from about 12 to 14 days after the initial dose. Following the initial vaccination efforts, some other age groups were also vaccinated, the efforts at this being dictated to by the resources available and the logistics that could be mustered. There was a huge demand for the vaccine but, unfortunately, the supplies were limited and certainly not quite sufficient to meet all the needs. To complicate matters further, ad hoc decisions were also made and some of the science-dictated priority lists were disregarded to a certain extent, perhaps for just a few days.

Then it was vaguely intimated that the second dose was going to be delayed to around three months after the first dose. Unfortunately, no proper communication as to the scientific reasons for this abrupt change in the timing schedule was conveyed to the general public and they were left wondering as to why this was done. Some thought that there was something wrong with the vaccine while others thought that the authorities were not able to get sufficient stocks of the vaccine to administer the second dose after four weeks. Many others smelled a rat in that entire endeavour.

In point of fact, there are some valid scientific reasons for changing the schedule. Once the vaccine was rolled out in other countries, especially in Europe and particularly so in the United Kingdom, continuing scientific assessments made it clear that the initial protection to a degree of around 60% was quite robust and was even extended to a period of more than three months. There was also some suggestion that by delaying the second dose, one might even get a stronger immune response and a more prolonged period of protection. Although opinions were divided, the United Kingdom went ahead and changed the schedule to have the second dose administered after three months. A secondary reason for extending the time interval was that as the supplies were sparse even in the UK. The positive benefit was that it was possible to give the first dose to a larger number of people, thereby increasing the total number of people who would have some immunity. There were protests even from some doctors in the UK that the authorities were going against science as the clinical trials of the vaccines had used the four-week time interval originally. Yet for all that it must be remembered that science could and does change with the unravelling of new data and that the decision that was taken by the authorities in the UK was based on sound public health principles. The advantages of protecting a larger group of people of a populace with the first dose of the vaccine is also scientifically tenable in a potentially lethal disease.

All these principles are also quite tenable and should be acceptable in the Sri Lankan scenario. But the down side of it all is that nobody came over the mass media to explain the reasons for the decision that was made to change the time schedule. It is absolutely imperative that we keep the public properly informed, mainly to prevent all kinds of unsubstantiated “devil’s playground” type of canards spreading around like wildfire and initiating as well as propagating public panic.

All clinical trials have shown up the vaccine to be quite effective and safe apart from mild side effects during the first 48 hours or so after the administration of the vaccine. These were very well documented as chills (feeling cold), fever and body aches. All these respond quite well to simple pain-killers such as paracetamol. Generally, both here and abroad, these side-effects have not led to any cause for alarm.

However, over the last week or so, there are disturbing reports of more serious problems that have occurred in certain countries in Europe. These have been reported and generally even sensationalised by all types of media. The general public of our country must be getting really worried about these latest developments as regards the vaccine. These worrying effects seem to have occurred predominantly, although not exclusively, after the second dose of the vaccine and have been reported with the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine. These undesirable effects consist primarily of documented cases of unexplained clotting of blood in deep veins with, in some cases, the clots being detached and getting deposited in the blood vessels of the lungs. There has been a couple of deaths as a result of the clots getting deposited in the lung arteries, a condition known as pulmonary embolism. As a result of these initial reports, many European countries have temporarily suspended the administration of the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine till more intensive investigations are carried out to ascertain a definitive cause-and-effect relationship.

At the present time, there is no direct evidence as to whether the problem was definitely caused by the vaccine. We do not know whether the affected individuals had a coexistent abnormality in clotting of blood. These clotting problems in deep veins are more common in the European countries anyway. Though seen from time to time, these deep vein thrombosis problems are quite rare in tropical countries, especially in Sri Lanka. It is generally seen here after major surgery where mobility of the patient had been severely curtailed and clotting occurs in the deep veins of the legs. The increased tendency for clotting of blood in deep veins may also be related to the use of certain other medications such as oral contraceptive drugs, which are used a lot more in the European countries and in the Western hemisphere of the world. The message that we should convey to the public is that THERE IS NO CAUSE FOR UNDUE ALARM AND PANIC in our country regarding this problem at the present time. The position would be clearer within the next few weeks when these cases are thoroughly investigated. For the time being at least, there are no grounds for suspending the administration of the Oxford-AstraZenica vaccine in our country.

Initially, all the clinical trials indicated that the vaccine was capable of reducing the severity of the disease and would thereby reduce deaths. That was the primary reason for the use of the vaccine. However, there seems to be some accumulating evidence now that it would reduce the ability of the virus to infect humans as well, at least to a certain extent. There is some evidence that even if the vaccinated subject gets infected, the number of virus particles in the body may be reduced by a considerable extent. Although all these findings imply that this is not a complete or one hundred percent protection against being infected, the implication of this is that it could perhaps reduce transmission of the virus from infected people to those uninfected. In a new scientific paper published in a pre-print journal on the 01^st of

February 2021, the researchers found that the vaccine cut the number of cases with detectable virus by 67% after a single standard dose, and wrote that this shows the potential for a substantial reduction in transmission.

From a public health perspective that is an added bonus. If sufficient herd immunity could be instituted by widespread use of this vaccine, then the rate of spread could also be reduced and then the pandemic could be controlled. It would also serve the main purpose of reducing the severity of symptoms and thereby reduce the all-important deaths while reducing the need for high-powered intensive care for those who become symptomatic.

As so graphically pointed out by Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, the Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and reproduced verbatim here, “This is a time for facts, not fear. This is a time for rationality, not rumours. This is a time for solidarity, not stigma“. These are indeed a set of golden words for our populace as well as for the powers-that-be in our paradise isle. We are learning a lot about this coronavirus and the pandemic virtually daily. We need to explore windows of opportunities and change our strategies according to the scientific details that would be unravelled.

Yet for all that, all of us…, every single one of us, need to still comply very strictly with the all-important health recommendations of the 3Ws…, Wearing a mask; Washing of hands and Watching out for the maintenance of the physical distance of at least one to one and a half metres. The vaccines do not give us unabridged permission to abandon these public health measures towards controlling the pandemic. There is no way in which the observance of these measures could be put aside at the present time. By all means, get the vaccine when it is made available to you but even after that, do abide by the health guidelines. That will be your humble but priceless contribution towards saving lives.

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Features

Recruiting academics to state universities – beset by archaic selection processes?

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/3

Thilina Walpola

by Kaushalya Perera

Time has, by and large, stood still in the business of academic staff recruitment to state universities. Qualifications have proliferated and evolved to be more interdisciplinary, but our selection processes and evaluation criteria are unchanged since at least the late 1990s. But before I delve into the problems, I will describe the existing processes and schemes of recruitment. The discussion is limited to UGC-governed state universities (and does not include recruitment to medical and engineering sectors) though the problems may be relevant to other higher education institutions (HEIs).

How recruitment happens currently in SL state universities

Academic ranks in Sri Lankan state universities can be divided into three tiers (subdivisions are not discussed).

* Lecturer (Probationary)

– recruited with a four-year undergraduate degree. A tiny step higher is the Lecturer (Unconfirmed), recruited with a postgraduate degree but no teaching experience.

* A Senior Lecturer can be recruited with certain postgraduate qualifications and some number of years of teaching and research.

* Above this is the professor (of four types), which can be left out of this discussion since only one of those (Chair Professor) is by application.

State universities cannot hire permanent academic staff as and when they wish. Prior to advertising a vacancy, approval to recruit is obtained through a mind-numbing and time-consuming process (months!) ending at the Department of Management Services. The call for applications must list all ranks up to Senior Lecturer. All eligible candidates for Probationary to Senior Lecturer are interviewed, e.g., if a Department wants someone with a doctoral degree, they must still advertise for and interview candidates for all ranks, not only candidates with a doctoral degree. In the evaluation criteria, the first degree is more important than the doctoral degree (more on this strange phenomenon later). All of this is only possible when universities are not under a ‘hiring freeze’, which governments declare regularly and generally lasts several years.

Problem type 1

– Archaic processes and evaluation criteria

Twenty-five years ago, as a probationary lecturer with a first degree, I was a typical hire. We would be recruited, work some years and obtain postgraduate degrees (ideally using the privilege of paid study leave to attend a reputed university in the first world). State universities are primarily undergraduate teaching spaces, and when doctoral degrees were scarce, hiring probationary lecturers may have been a practical solution. The path to a higher degree was through the academic job. Now, due to availability of candidates with postgraduate qualifications and the problems of retaining academics who find foreign postgraduate opportunities, preference for candidates applying with a postgraduate qualification is growing. The evaluation scheme, however, prioritises the first degree over the candidate’s postgraduate education. Were I to apply to a Faculty of Education, despite a PhD on language teaching and research in education, I may not even be interviewed since my undergraduate degree is not in education. The ‘first degree first’ phenomenon shows that universities essentially ignore the intellectual development of a person beyond their early twenties. It also ignores the breadth of disciplines and their overlap with other fields.

This can be helped (not solved) by a simple fix, which can also reduce brain drain: give precedence to the doctoral degree in the required field, regardless of the candidate’s first degree, effected by a UGC circular. The suggestion is not fool-proof. It is a first step, and offered with the understanding that any selection process, however well the evaluation criteria are articulated, will be beset by multiple issues, including that of bias. Like other Sri Lankan institutions, universities, too, have tribal tendencies, surfacing in the form of a preference for one’s own alumni. Nevertheless, there are other problems that are, arguably, more pressing as I discuss next. In relation to the evaluation criteria, a problem is the narrow interpretation of any regulation, e.g., deciding the degree’s suitability based on the title rather than considering courses in the transcript. Despite rhetoric promoting internationalising and inter-disciplinarity, decision-making administrative and academic bodies have very literal expectations of candidates’ qualifications, e.g., a candidate with knowledge of digital literacy should show this through the title of the degree!

Problem type 2 – The mess of badly regulated higher education

A direct consequence of the contemporary expansion of higher education is a large number of applicants with myriad qualifications. The diversity of degree programmes cited makes the responsibility of selecting a suitable candidate for the job a challenging but very important one. After all, the job is for life – it is very difficult to fire a permanent employer in the state sector.

Widely varying undergraduate degree programmes.

At present, Sri Lankan undergraduates bring qualifications (at times more than one) from multiple types of higher education institutions: a degree from a UGC-affiliated state university, a state university external to the UGC, a state institution that is not a university, a foreign university, or a private HEI aka ‘private university’. It could be a degree received by attending on-site, in Sri Lanka or abroad. It could be from a private HEI’s affiliated foreign university or an external degree from a state university or an online only degree from a private HEI that is ‘UGC-approved’ or ‘Ministry of Education approved’, i.e., never studied in a university setting. Needless to say, the diversity (and their differences in quality) are dizzying. Unfortunately, under the evaluation scheme all degrees ‘recognised’ by the UGC are assigned the same marks. The same goes for the candidates’ merits or distinctions, first classes, etc., regardless of how difficult or easy the degree programme may be and even when capabilities, exposure, input, etc are obviously different.

Similar issues are faced when we consider postgraduate qualifications, though to a lesser degree. In my discipline(s), at least, a postgraduate degree obtained on-site from a first-world university is preferable to one from a local university (which usually have weekend or evening classes similar to part-time study) or online from a foreign university. Elitist this may be, but even the best local postgraduate degrees cannot provide the experience and intellectual growth gained by being in a university that gives you access to six million books and teaching and supervision by internationally-recognised scholars. Unfortunately, in the evaluation schemes for recruitment, the worst postgraduate qualification you know of will receive the same marks as one from NUS, Harvard or Leiden.

The problem is clear but what about a solution?

Recruitment to state universities needs to change to meet contemporary needs. We need evaluation criteria that allows us to get rid of the dross as well as a more sophisticated institutional understanding of using them. Recruitment is key if we want our institutions (and our country) to progress. I reiterate here the recommendations proposed in ‘Considerations for Higher Education Reform’ circulated previously by Kuppi Collective:

* Change bond regulations to be more just, in order to retain better qualified academics.

* Update the schemes of recruitment to reflect present-day realities of inter-disciplinary and multi-disciplinary training in order to recruit suitably qualified candidates.

* Ensure recruitment processes are made transparent by university administrations.

Kaushalya Perera is a senior lecturer at the University of Colombo.

(Kuppi is a politics and pedagogy happening on the margins of the lecture hall that parodies, subverts, and simultaneously reaffirms social hierarchies.)

Features

Talento … oozing with talent

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/3

Thilina Walpola

Talento: Gained recognition as a leading wedding and dance band

This week, too, the spotlight is on an outfit that has gained popularity, mainly through social media.

Last week we had MISTER Band in our scene, and on 10th February, Yellow Beatz – both social media favourites.

Talento is a seven-piece band that plays all types of music, from the ‘60s to the modern tracks of today.

The band has reached many heights, since its inception in 2012, and has gained recognition as a leading wedding and dance band in the scene here.

The members that makeup the outfit have a solid musical background, which comes through years of hard work and dedication

Their portfolio of music contains a mix of both western and eastern songs and are carefully selected, they say, to match the requirements of the intended audience, occasion, or event.

Although the baila is a specialty, which is inherent to this group, that originates from Moratuwa, their repertoire is made up of a vast collection of love, classic, oldies and modern-day hits.

The musicians, who make up Talento, are:

Prabuddha Geetharuchi:

Geilee Fonseka: Dynamic and charismatic vocalist

Prabuddha Geetharuchi: The main man behind the band Talento

(Vocalist/ Frontman). He is an avid music enthusiast and was mentored by a lot of famous musicians, and trainers, since he was a child. Growing up with them influenced him to take on western songs, as well as other music styles. A Peterite, he is the main man behind the band Talento and is a versatile singer/entertainer who never fails to get the crowd going.

Geilee Fonseka (Vocals):

A dynamic and charismatic vocalist whose vibrant stage presence, and powerful voice, bring a fresh spark to every performance. Young, energetic, and musically refined, she is an artiste who effortlessly blends passion with precision – captivating audiences from the very first note. Blessed with an immense vocal range, Geilee is a truly versatile singer, confidently delivering Western and Eastern music across multiple languages and genres.

Chandana Perera (Drummer):

His expertise and exceptional skills have earned him recognition as one of the finest acoustic drummers in Sri Lanka. With over 40 tours under his belt, Chandana has demonstrated his dedication and passion for music, embodying the essential role of a drummer as the heartbeat of any band.

Harsha Soysa:

(Bassist/Vocalist). He a chorister of the western choir of St. Sebastian’s College, Moratuwa, who began his musical education under famous voice trainers, as well as bass guitar trainers in Sri Lanka. He has also performed at events overseas. He acts as the second singer of the band

Udara Jayakody:

(Keyboardist). He is also a qualified pianist, adding technical flavour to Talento’s music. His singing and harmonising skills are an extra asset to the band. From his childhood he has been a part of a number of orchestras as a pianist. He has also previously performed with several famous western bands.

Aruna Madushanka:

(Saxophonist). His proficiciency in playing various instruments, including the saxophone, soprano saxophone, and western flute, showcases his versatility as a musician, and his musical repertoire is further enhanced by his remarkable singing ability.

Prashan Pramuditha:

(Lead guitar). He has the ability to play different styles, both oriental and western music, and he also creates unique tones and patterns with the guitar..

Features

Special milestone for JJ Twins

Published

4 hours ago

2026/03/3

Thilina Walpola

Twin brothers Julian and Jason Prins

The JJ Twins, the Sri Lankan musical duo, performing in the Maldives, and known for blending R&B, Hip Hop, and Sri Lankan rhythms, thereby creating a unique sound, have come out with a brand-new single ‘Me Mawathe.’

In fact, it’s a very special milestone for the twin brothers, Julian and Jason Prins, as ‘Me Mawathe’ is their first ever Sinhala song!

‘Me Mawathe’ showcases a fresh new sound, while staying true to the signature harmony and emotion that their fans love.

This heartfelt track captures the beauty of love, journey, and connection, brought to life through powerful vocals and captivating melodies.

It marks an exciting new chapter for the JJ Twins as they expand their musical journey and connect with audiences in a whole new way.

Their recent album, ‘CONCLUDED,’ explores themes of love, heartbreak, and healing, and include hits like ‘Can’t Get You Off My Mind’ and ‘You Left Me Here to Die’ which showcase their emotional intensity.

Readers could stay connected and follow JJ Twins on social media for exclusive updates, behind-the-scenes moments, and upcoming releases:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/jjtwinsofficial

TikTok: http://tiktok.com/@jjtwinsmusic

Facebook: http://facebook.com/jjtwinssingers

YouTube: http://youtube.com/jjtwins