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Covid-19 vaccination programme: Focus shifts to more age groups

11 Sep 2021

By Yumiko Perera The national islandwide vaccination programme is in full swing, despite the nationwide lockdown that is presently in place, The Sunday Morning learnt. While there is a slight reduction in the number of cases being reported, the number of Covid-19-related fatalities surpassed the 11,000 mark yesterday (11). Moreover, the number of persons in the country who have been administered with both doses of any Covid-19 vaccine exceeded the 10 million mark over the past week, and as per latest statistics from the Epidemiology Unit, 10,406,048 persons have been fully immunised as of 11 September, The Sunday Morning learnt. Addressing the media via a virtual meeting last Thursday (9), Minister of Health Keheliya Rambukwella stated that the immunisation of schoolchildren aged between 12 and 18 years is currently under discussion, and pointed out that rolling out Covid-19 vaccinations for students should commence at the earliest in order to reopen schools. Rambukwella explained that several international organisations, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), have underlined the necessary criteria for the vaccination of children. The Minister of Health noted that approximately two million schoolchildren from grades 7-13 are expected to be immunised. Last week, the President’s Media Division (PMD) stated that expert medical approval is being sought to inoculate schoolchildren of the relevant age groups with the Pfizer vaccine. The Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) told the media last week that they formulated several recommendations based on scientific principles, with the objective of preventing severe disease and deaths in the country. The SLMA recommended that the Pfizer, Moderna, or Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines be given as a third dose to all immunosuppressed individuals over the age of 12, who received two doses of any Covid-19 vaccine, at least 28 days after the second dose. As per the SLMA’s recommendations, Sinopharm – the most widely available vaccine – could be administered to those between the ages of 18 and 60 years and do not have a weakened immune system owing to various underlying health conditions, The Sunday Morning learnt. The SLMA pointed out that children in the age group of 12-18 do not generally suffer severe disease. They further stated that the Pfizer vaccine could be used to inoculate children with comorbidities, between the ages of 12 and 18 years. With the health authorities currently deliberating the vaccination of all immunosuppressed individuals over 12 years as a first step in the country’s plan to vaccinate children, Sri Lanka has not yet begun administering any Covid-19 vaccine to those aged below 18 years. Deputy Director General of Public Health Services and Disaster Preparedness and Response Division Head Dr. Hemantha Herath told The Sunday Morning that a final decision is yet to be taken on the inoculation of children. “There are several aspects that need to be taken into consideration before we start immunising children, and as of now, we simply do not have enough data to go by. However, in-depth studies are being carried out in this regard,” Dr. Herath elaborated. He highlighted that vaccination studies require a considerable amount of time, and although the situation demands it, hasty decisions must not be made. BOX: Vaccination of 20-29 age group It is estimated that approximately 91% of the above-30 population of the country have been fully vaccinated thus far. Meanwhile, according to health officials, the focus at present is on inoculating those who are in the 20-29 age group, with over 56% already being inoculated with the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine as of Saturday (11), The Sunday Morning learnt. Addressing Parliament last Tuesday (7), State Minister of Production, Supply, and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana said the Government aims to complete the Covid-19 vaccination programme for all individuals between the ages of 20 and 30 years within the next six weeks. Although the vaccination programme for this group officially began last Monday (6), many individuals in the aforementioned age group in the healthcare sector and the apparel industry were inoculated prior to the said date, as they fell into vaccination priority groups. Meanwhile, Prof. Jayasumana also stated that the type of Covid-19 vaccine given to young people should not be made an issue and that international studies show that the young develop better immunity levels regardless of the type of vaccine used for inoculation. “Be it the Chinese Sinopharm or the German-US Pfizer-BioNTech, most probably, there is no considerable difference in the level of immunity achieved when it comes to youths,” he noted. He added that it would be possible to give priority to the youths when administering the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine in the future, as the country would receive more stocks of said vaccine. As per Epidemiology Unit statistics, 890,368 doses of the Covishield second jab were rolled out thus far. Moreover, 10,583,001 doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were rolled out as the first jab, along with 8,494,777 vaccines as the second jab. In addition, 159,089 doses of Sputnik V were administered as the first jab, along with 43,450 as the second jab; 424,105  doses of the Pfizer vaccine were administered, along with 240,074 doses as the second jab; and 772,936 doses of the Moderna vaccine were administered as the first jab, along with 737,379 doses as the second jab as of 10 September


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