The vaccination mess: Government tells officials don’t give in to political pressure

Glocal
By Editor_1
-J. Sujeewakumar/ENCL
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By Imesh Ranasinghe

COLOMBO – Sri Lanka’s government has asked heath officials not to accede to political pressure when carrying out the country’s COVID-19 vaccination program.

Speaking at the weekly cabinet briefing Tuesday (9) morning, Co-Cabinet Spokesman Minister Ramesh Pathirana said President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi have instructed officials to make sure no political interventions happen over the vaccination effort. He said the vaccination program, which is managed by the health officials, is being conducted especially in areas in the Western Province where the most number of Covid patients were found.

However, the vaccination drive has been dogged by allegations that people with political influence have jumped the queue creating conflicts at the vaccinating centres.

The government has also frequently changed the rules about vaccinations. At first, it announced the jab would be given to all those over 60 years of age with underlying conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure or sicknesses such as kidney disease or lung conditions. Then, it changed its position and said all those between the ages 30 and 60 would be vaccinated. At the same time, some vaccination centres said all those over 30 would be vaccinated whether they had underlying co-morbidities or not.

Pathirana  said medical officers and the Public Health Inspectors (PHIs) have complete authority of the program under the supervision of the Ministry of Health. “No one has the ability or space to politically influence them,” he emphasized, urging health officials to carry out their work independently.

However, he rejected allegations of political influences in the vaccination program, but added if such complaints exist, the government has the ability to take actions against the culprits.

Last month State Minister Sudarshini Fernandopulle accused top officials at the Ministry of Health of taking snap decisions on the country’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout, in complete disregard of ministry-sanctioned recommendations made by a technical committee.

“When decisions have already been made [regarding the rollout timetable], these officials suddenly call at night and say start the program right away. We can’t do it this way,” the state minister said.

It is learnt the ad hoc decisions being made by officials on the ground in violation of the guidelines laid down by the World Health Organization have seriously affected the vaccination schedules for Sri Lanka.

Officials said under the condition of anonymity that the frequent changes being made to “please various politicians” has undermined the vaccination schedule,  jeopardizing the process.

“If they had stuck to the proper schedule to first vaccinate the people at most risk of death, which are the over-sixties with co-morbidities and then progressed towards the younger groups with these conditions, then there would be no issues,” they said.

-economynext.com

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