News
Pfizer jabs for O/L students begin
View(s):Here are the highlights of the media briefing at the Health Promotion Bureau on Friday chaired by Director Dr. Ranjith Batuwanthudawe.
The Education Ministry’s Additional Secretary L.M.D. Dharmasena:
Almost 60% of the 18-19 year-old schoolchildren (in the Advanced Level classes) in the Colombo district have been vaccinated, with successful programmes in Piliyandala, Homagama, Colombo and Jayewardenepura areas.
Principals, teachers and parents should encourage children to get vaccinated as soon as possible.
The vaccination of 16-17 year-olds (in the Ordinary Level classes) will also begin soon under the guidance of the Health Ministry. It has already been launched in the Northern Province.
The vaccine being administered is Pfizer.
We request schools to support the vaccination programme by giving the relevant data on the number of children to be vaccinated to the health officials.
The information on where to go for vaccination, timing, etc., will soon be on the provincial education and Education Ministry websites.
The advice to children when going for the jab: have your breakfast, wear comfortable clothes, uniforms and report cards are not mandatory, NICs may help and the consent of parents is essential.
The principals of state-assisted; private; and international schools should seek vaccination for their students from the relevant Medical Officer of Health (MOH) offices.
Consultant Virologist
Dr. Jude Jayamaha of the Medical Research Institute (MRI), Colombo:
Don’t let down your guard as restrictions are eased. Wear face masks, resort to hand hygiene and avoid gatherings.
This is all too relevant when there is a discussion about Delta Plus, a new variant. If people don’t follow guidelines, the risk of a variant spreading increases. The Delta Plus variant has been detected in the United Kingdom (UK), United States of America (USA), Denmark, etc.
We are at a critical juncture and have taken great trouble to bring down patient numbers and defuse the COVID-19 situation. Therefore, we should safeguard what we have achieved.
Delta Plus has not been reported in Sri Lanka yet, but it is good to be aware of the risks. It is 10% more transmissible than the Delta variant.
There were international reports questioning whether Delta Plus is an ‘escape variant’ or could cause ‘breakthrough infections’ in vaccinated populations, but no such cases have been identified currently. As the current vaccines work against the Delta variant, it should work against Delta Plus as well.
Head of the Disaster Preparedness and Response Division of the Health Ministry, Dr. Hemantha Herath:
Travel restrictions are in full force and have been extended till October 31st. The Health Ministry alone cannot be expected to implement the travel restrictions. It has to be a joint effort among many authorities. This is a collective effort. Breaches will lead to a serious situation which will come about in another 2 or 3 weeks. Then it will be too late.
The latest testing strategy is where we do Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) predominantly. Earlier, a large number were RT-PCR Tests but now in the field it is RATs. When RT-PCR tests were done earlier in selected laboratories, we got the daily output. However RAT numbers do not come in daily, as it is more difficult from the field. The authorities are informed of the number of positive cases daily.
In August, we have done over 1 million (500,000 RT-PCRs and 500,000 RATs), as also in September.