Vaccine choices

Friday, 5 March 2021 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Sri Lanka has approved the Russian COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V for use in Sri Lanka, joining 39 other countries around the world that have permitted it for emergency use. The Government has also expressed interest in the Chinese vaccine and the Johnson and Johnson vaccine that is gaining much attention due to its single dose option. The increase in the number of vaccine options is positive but it also opens up fresh challenges for policymakers.

So far the vaccine approach has been relatively simple. AstraZeneca was approved and relatively easy to distribute using the Government immunisation system. Unfortunately, despite the Government repeatedly downplaying administrative incompetence and political interference, public experience of getting the vaccine has been uneven at best.

The Government has also exacerbated the issue by rolling back PCR testing in areas where vaccines are being distributed even though there is no data on coverage and the Western Province remains the region with the highest spread footprint. Scaling down PCR testing before scaling up vaccinations could create an asymmetrical situation where infection numbers will appear artificially reduced but the virus is prevalent in the community.

Public health officials have defended this decision by insisting that infection clusters are being closely controlled and monitored but given the refusal of authorities to admit to community spread despite much evidence to the contrary, the scaling down of PCR testing is worrying. PCR testing must be increased systematically even as vaccine coverage increases, because infections and new variants remain an ever-persistent threat.

With more and more vaccines coming online, it is also important for policies to evolve and clear information to be communicated to the public. Different vaccines have different efficacy rates, which means that decisions need to be made on whether consumers will get a chance to pick the vaccine they prefer. Reports have indicated that tourism and manufacturing services will get priority when the next round of vaccination begins, possibly from the COVAX facility which will reach Sri Lanka on Sunday. But there is still much confusion of how these people will be vaccinated and how immunisation for the general public will be expanded parallel to the priority groups.

Theoretically there is also the possibility of involving the private sector to both increase the rapidity of the immunisation process and widen the choices of vaccine available to the public. The Government has so far indicated it wants to keep the vaccine process entirely public sector based but with fresh variants, booster shots may require private sector support further down the road.

For now the priority should be increasing the depth of the immunisation program, particularly to cover vulnerable groups who may be unable to come and stand in line for hours to get jabbed. The process still has a multitude of glitches that will need to be ironed out before the next 10 million doses from the Serum Institute are administered or the Government risks using up public funds with limited results.

At this point the public has realised that they need to go find the vaccine because the vaccine is not going to find them.