News
Neelika says her tweet has been misconstrued to run down Sinopharm vaccine
By Rathindra Kuruwita
Purposefully misquoting or misinterpreting information to discourage people from taking vaccines was immoral and unethical, given that a large number of unvaccinated Sri Lankans were dying, Prof. Neelika Malavige of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura told The Island yesterday.
Prof. Malavige said that she had shared a preprint titled ‘Morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 post-vaccination breakthrough infections in association with vaccines and the emergence of variants in Bahrain’ which is the first study to compare the efficacy of four different vaccines.
The study showed that Sinopharm was slightly less effective than Pfizer on older people in Bahrain, she said. However, death among unvaccinated people under 50 were 8.1-fold higher compared to Sinopharm vaccine recipients. The percentage of deaths among all COVID-19 cases in unvaccinated people over 50 years of age was 3.8-fold higher compared to the Sinopharm, Prof. Malavige said.
However, within a few hours a website had taken the tweets that accompanied the study out of context to discourage people from taking Sinopharm and that was very wrong, she said.
“It is very sad that my twitter posts are taken out of context to create doubt about the efficacy of vaccines. When all evidence show that all vaccines, significantly reduce severe disease and death. The best one is the first one you can take,” she said.
The Colombo Stock Exchange (GL 12) has contributed LKR 25 million to the Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund.
The cheque was handed over to the Secretary to the President Dr. Nandika Sanath Kumanayake by the Chairman of the Colombo Stock Exchange, Dimuthu Abeyesekera, the Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike and Senior Vice Chairman Kusal Nissanka at the Presidential Secretariat.
News
Karu argues against scrapping MPs’ pension as many less fortunate members entered Parliament after ’56
Former Speaker of Parliament Karu Jayasuriya has written to President Anura Kumara Dissanayake expressing concerns over the proposed abolition of MPs’ pensions.The letter was sent in his capacity as Patron of the Former Parliamentarians’ Caucus.
In his letter, Jayasuriya noted that at the time of Sri Lanka’s independence, political participation was largely limited to an educated, affluent land-owning elite. However, he said a significant social transformation took place after 1956, enabling ordinary citizens to enter politics.
He warned that under current conditions, removing parliamentary pensions would effectively confine politics to the wealthy, business interests, individuals engaged in illicit income-generating activities, and well-funded political parties. Such a move, he said, would discourage honest social workers and individuals of modest means from entering public life.
Jayasuriya also pointed out that while a small number of former MPs, including himself, use their pensions for social and charitable purposes, the majority rely on the pension as a primary source of income.
He urged the President to give due consideration to the matter and take appropriate action, particularly as the government prepares to draft a new constitution.The Bill seeking to abolish pensions for Members of Parliament was presented to Parliament on 07 January by Minister of Justice and National Integration Dr. Harshana Nanayakkara.
Five suspects, including former Minister Johnston Fernando and his two sons, who were arrested by the Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID), were further remanded until 30 January by the Wattala Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The former Minister’s , sons Johan Fernando and Jerome Kenneth Fernando, and two others, were arrested in connection with the alleged misuse of a Sathosa vehicle during Fernando’s tenure as Minister.
Investigations are currently underway into the alleged misuse of state property, including a lorry belonging to Lanka Sathosa, which reportedly caused a significant financial loss to the state.
In connection with the same incident, Indika Ratnamalala, who served as the Transport Manager of Sathosa during
Fernando’s tenure as Minister of Co-operatives and Internal Trade, was arrested on 04 January.
After being produced before the Wattala Magistrate’s Court, he was ordered to be remanded in custody until 09 January.The former Sathosa Transport Manager was remanded on charges of falsifying documents.
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