3 June 2021 02:31 am
The Sri Lanka Medical Association said that the current vaccination strategy is flawed and in need of urgent review, with priority given for elderly patients. Sri Lanka’s premier professional medical body in a letter to the President said that there is no seeming benefit of vaccinating disease hot-spots with high mobility of people.
“In a setting particularly troubled by continuous short supply of vaccines, we emphasize the need for an efficient vaccine strategy which targets high-risk groups,” the premier professional medical organisation headed by Dr. Padma Gunaratne said. This would effectively achieve maximum control and avoid necessity for repeated lockdowns, they aded.
“Death analysis of patients (obtained from Health Ministry data) indicates that 73% of deaths occur in people over 60 years of age and 83% of deaths were in people with co-morbidities,” the letter said. Research evidence does not support claims that transmission of infections are less, unless a large majority of the public are vaccinated, the SLMA added.
“There is clear and compelling evidence to support prioritization of vaccination of older adults more than 60 years, followed by people with co-morbidities in the age group between 30 to 60 years,” the SLMA said. There is no appreciable benefit in vaccinating people with the highest mobility in hot-spots, as is currently carried out in Sri Lanka, the letter stated. (Kalani Kumarasinghe)