Tuesday February 23, 2021
11:48
ECONOMYNEXT – The Faculty of Group Physicians of Sri Lanka (CCPSL), is expressing “grave concern” concerning the non-adherence of the present COVID-19 Vaccine programme to fundamental scientific rules.
The CCPSL, which is the premier physique of public well being specialists within the nation, in a media assertion, mentioned that the Nationwide Vaccine Deployment Plan for COVID-19 vaccination for all had been permitted final month.
“The choice of the Ministry of Well being to provoke vaccination concentrating on the people of 30 to 60 years was applied in a number of chosen communities is a transparent deviation from the scientifically agreed prioritization said within the Nationwide Vaccine Deployment Plan,” it identified.
“This technique is neither an evidence-based observe, nor a public well being choice contemplating the broader public well being and financial outcomes, and it completely derails the COVID-19 preventive actions within the nation, dangerously undermining the general public well being response to COVID-19 particularly with regard to the target of discount of issues and deaths as a result of COVID-19,” the assertion warned.
“Disregarding the suggestions of NACCD at this stage of pandemic response could jeopardize your entire COVID-19 management actions.”
It mentioned that the Nationwide Advisory Committee on Communicable Illnesses (NACCD) which additionally carry out because the Nationwide Immunization Technical Advisory Group (NITAG), is the statutory physique acknowledged regionally and internationally to advise on the immunization coverage of the nation.
The nationwide plan had been permitted by these two our bodies and was permitted by the Ministry of Well being and conveyed to all stakeholders together with the World Well being Group.
Contemplating the truth that there shall be very restricted quantity of vaccines in 2021, this permitted vaccine deployment plan has listed the precedence teams for vaccination.
These precedence teams included frontline well being workers, these entrance line workers within the safety forces and the Police, aged over 60 years of age, these with co-morbidities and high-risk teams in economically necessary and important service/establishments.
The important thing goal of the vaccination programme for COVID-19 throughout the globe is to reduce extreme illness and thereby the deaths as a result of COVID-19.
Prioritization is extraordinarily necessary as there’s a restricted provide of COVID-19 vaccines throughout the globe and no clear timeline is obtainable for the supply of the required doses of the vaccine to nations.
Thus, it’s obligatory to make use of the obtainable vaccines in one of the best ways to optimize the outcomes for our nation.
Therefore, the primary precedence as recognized within the Nationwide Vaccine Deployment Plan was to vaccinate the frontline healthcare employees and those that are immediately concerned in COVID-19 actions, which was accomplished within the first spherical of vaccination.
The remaining precedence teams embody these over 60 years of age and particularly these affected by non-communicable ailments through which extreme ailments and deaths are taking place each day within the nation.
“We, the CCPSL, earnestly requests the federal government to urgently implement the scientifically beneficial vaccine precedence record reasonably than taking advert hoc selections on vaccination coverage” it added (Colombo, February 23, 2021)
Reported by Arjuna Ranawana
