‘Dung in milk’

Wednesday 8th September, 2021

One of the few things the incumbent government can justifiably pride itself on as an achievement is the country’s successful vaccination programme. The national inoculation drive is progressing smoothly so much so that it has received encomia from the World Health Organisation (WHO) itself. (The Opposition, however, has chosen to ignore this for obvious reasons!)

The government is in the habit of ‘adding a smidgeon of cow dung to its pot of milk’, as a local saying goes. It allows politics to spoil its good projects. It has, in its wisdom, sent a stock of Pfizer vaccine to Hambantota, of all places, and triggered an avalanche of criticism. Doctors’ associations have also taken exception to the government’s arbitrary action. Medical experts are of the view that the government has got its priorities mixed up. They insist that some elders do not produce an antibody response despite being inoculated with the Sinopharm vaccine, and are at a higher risk of hospitalisation and death; the Pfizer vaccine should be used to give them a third dose. One cannot but agree with the good doctors.

Curiously, the Opposition politicians did not raise any objections when the Pfizer vaccine was used to inoculate the people of Mannar and Vavuniya, and the Moderna vaccine was sent to Kandy. Why are politicians protesting against the use of the Pfizer vaccine to inoculate the Hambantota youth? Their reaction has nothing to do with science; it is based on politics. They are up in arms because Hambantota is the home district of the ruling family. There is no way the government can convince the public that its decision to send the Pfizer vaccine to Hambantota was devoid of politics.

The Rajapaksa governments have spent billions of rupees on several mega projects in Hambantota, and most of them have become white elephants. The Hambantota international conference hall is a case in point. As for the Suriyawewa international cricket stadium, the only attraction is said to be bushmeat available in some eateries in the area. Another loss-incurring project is the Mattala international airport, where roars are heard not from jet engines but from the wild elephants roaming in the area. So, it is only natural that the government is drawing fire from its opponents for sending the Pfizer vaccine to Hambantota.

The government insists that the quality of Sinopharm, being widely used here, is second to none. But by going out of its way to have the Hambantota youth inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine, the government has given undue importance to the American jab. This might lead to an erosion of public confidence in the effectiveness and safety of other vaccines, especially Sinopharm where the youth are concerned.

Sri Lankan governments are full of pundits; they consider it deeply infra dig to listen to expert advice. As we keep saying, political power and brains are mutually exclusive—bale thiyanakota mole ne, mole thiyanakota bale ne. The Opposition grandees, who ignored the warnings of the Easter Sunday bombings, while they were in power, and thereby caused the deaths of more than 270 men, women and children, have today realised the need to heed expert warnings as regards pandemic control. They are urging the government to do likewise. They have got enough brains because they do not have political power. Those who are at the levers of power at present do not care much about health experts’ advice and warnings because they consider themselves omniscient, and let political expediency get the better of them.

The government’s decision to send the Pfizer vaccine to Hambantota amidst protests from medical experts is reported to be one of the reasons why Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama has resigned from the Technical Committee of the Director-General of Health Services. A respected, senior physician with a wealth of experience, Dr. Wijewickrama is an asset to those tasked with pandemic control. When such medical professionals vote with their feet, the government ought to sit up and take notice, and make course corrections immediately, for it is obviously moving in the wrong direction. Views of medical and health experts must be taken on board as regards the national vaccination campaign, and no attempt should be made to railroad these professionals into political decisions.