Presidential directive issued to administer booster dose before festive season

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa instructed the members of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control to take necessary steps to complete administering booster doses within the next two weeks to control the spread of COVID-19 during the upcoming festive season.

The President made these remarks during the meeting of the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control held at the Presidential Secretariat on Saturday.

All those who have completed 03 months after receiving the second dose are eligible to receive the Pfizer vaccine as the booster dose. Accordingly, eligible persons have the opportunity to receive the Pfizer vaccine from tomorrow at any vaccine centre.

Observations have revealed that the vast majority of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reported these days are from among those who have not been vaccinated and most of them are youngsters, the health officials said. Vaccination is mandatory to minimize the number of covid-19 patients in intensive care as well as to reduce mortality rate. The President gave instructions to educate the youth in this regard and then to take steps to provide the vaccine as soon as possible.

Legal advice has been sought with regard to preventing those who have not obtained the vaccine from entering public places in order to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Taking this into consideration, the Special Committee on COVID-19 Control today decided to make the vaccination card mandatory when entering public places in the future.

The approval has been received to administer the second dose for children between the ages of 16 and 19 and the first dose for all children between the ages of 12 and 15. Accordingly, the President instructed to devise plans in collaboration with the Ministry of Education to immediately provide the vaccine.