COVID: To vacillate – or vaccinate?
It is gratifying to note that Sri Lanka is finally beginning to get its population efficaciously vaccinated against COVID – having initially bungled the management of its COVID vaccination programme. Six months after we commenced immunisation in this country we are finally beginning to see some realistic progress.
Initially, the infrastructure for the roll-out of vaccinations was not properly set up. People who wanted to get vaccinated had to go through a complicated process and spend hours in queues. Not enough vaccines were procured – and it soon became the case – as often happens in our country – of those wanting to get vaccinated having to know someone (or know someone who knows someone) just to get themselves vaccinated. We suffered a lack of success from a simple lack of access.
To compound the problem, our government lacked a decisive and effective communication strategy. It became a question of “Some say this and some say that” with mixed and inconsistent messages coming from politicians, health professionals, and advisory bodies.
All this led to vacillation rather than vaccination, resulting in the vaccination programme progressing at a snail’s pace.
I realise that these days most folk get the information they firmly believe not from credible, reliable sources but from well-meaning friends, neighbours and relations – as well as from social media platforms such as Facebook and Google. So I thought this sensible and down to earth message posted by one of my friends on his Facebook page is well worth sharing with my readers. It sums up what many of us (including myself) feel about the current COVID situation
This is what he said:
You are not vaccinated, I respect your choice.
I am vaccinated, please respect my choice.
I got myself vaccinated not to please the government but:
To not die from Covid-19.
To NOT clutter a hospital bed if I get sick.
To hug my loved ones
To go to a restaurant, go on holidays and explore the world, and for many more things to come …
To live my life.
To have my kids/grandkids go back to school and play sports and start dancing again
To make COVID-19 become an old memory.
To protect all of us in this country.
To put this in perspective, I must admit that I don’t know what’s in it – neither in this vaccine nor the ones I had as a child.
I have no idea of all the ingredients in the Isso-vadai or the seeni sambol roll or the packet of kothu roti that I purchase from a vendor. I do not know what chemicals are given to patients – whether it’s chemotherapy for cancer, medications for polyarthritis, or in the routine vaccines given to infants and children. I also don’t know what’s in diabetes tablets, antibiotic capsules, even Panadol or Disprin nor in any other medicines. I take them because they cure my headaches and pains and ailments …
I don’t know what’s in the cosmetics we apply on our skin. Neither do I know every ingredient in my soap or shampoo. I don’t know the long term effect of mobile phone use or whether or not that restaurant I just ordered food from REALLY used clean ingredients or just claimed to be doing so!
There’s a lot of things I don’t know and never will.
I just know one thing: life is short, very short, and I still want to do something other than just go to work every day or stay locked in my home. I still want to travel and hug people without fear and find a little feeling of the life we had “before”. As a child and as an adult I’ve been vaccinated for tetanus, diphtheria, polio, mumps, measles, rubella and probably a few other diseases. My parents and I trusted the science behind those vaccinations and so we never had to suffer through or transmit any of said diseases.
Just saying…..
I could not have articulated it better myself!