As the talks on a vaccine against Covid-19 are in the spotlight around the world, Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera said Sri Lanka cannot keep depending on a vaccine alone considering the time period of availability of the vaccine, the cost and several other factors.
Addressing media yesterday, he said in a pandemic of this nature, priority should be given to curb the spread of the virus. He added that the vaccine was only one method of containing the virus.
“Still the vaccine is under research and therefore it will take at least another six months to get the vaccine,” Dr Samaraweera said.
He said though a set of vaccine kits would be given to Sri Lanka as a grant when it is available, the rest of the required vaccine kits would have to be purchased by the government, which could cost a lot.
“According to the prices available at present, the cost of a vaccine would range between Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 4,500, he added.
The Epidemiology Chief also said according to studies conducted so far conducted on the vaccine, immunity would last only for a period of one and half years following the initial dose of the vaccine. Therefore, the vaccine has to be given to a person once every year or more.
Furthermore, he said it would create a high demand on the vaccine and no company would be able to meet the demand promptly. “At the same time, there is possibility that a powerful country would purchase a higher number of vaccine kits creating a dearth of the vaccine,”
“In order to prevent this from happening, the World Health Organization has prepared a mechanism to fairly distribute the vaccine kits among countries,” he added.
Courtesy: Daily Mirror
