{"id":116837,"date":"2021-08-06T16:00:46","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T23:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=116837"},"modified":"2021-08-06T16:00:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T23:00:46","slug":"getting-vaccinated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2021\/08\/06\/getting-vaccinated\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting Vaccinated"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The emergence of COVID-19\nin December 2019 in China spread like wildfire. In January 2020, despite China\nimposing a lockdown in Wuhan, the virus spread to the mainland and eventually\nworldwide. The pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The death rate is over four\nmillion up to date. Sri Lanka managed to control the initial stages of the\npandemic, where even the WHO commended the actions taken by the Sri Lanka\nGovernment. People had to stay at home, and workers had to work from home\nduring the lockdown period to control the epidemic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government decided to\npay substantially to those who depended on a daily wage. Unfortunately, the\nOpposition Parties and the JVP continue with adverse comments in criticising\nthe Government rather than supporting it during the pandemic. With the Delta\nvariant, there appears to be a new wave causing countless deaths. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health authorities strongly\nemphasise how to refrain from getting infected by the coronavirus. However,\nmany tend to ignore such instructions, and as a result, the number of Covid-19\ncases has increased. With all such restrictions and despite those who defied\nhealth instructions, the Government recently decided to ease restrictions to a\ncertain degree and ‘open’ the country for economic purposes with special\nconditions in force. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once the pandemic began to\nspread throughout the world, various countries started developing numerous\nvaccines of different types. Some vaccines were sent free of charge to Sri\nLanka by friendly countries, and the rest had to be purchased by the\nGovernment. President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed the health authorities\nto end the vaccination programme by the end of August 2021, as Sri Lanka is\nalready receiving adequate supplies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 20th July 2021, Sri\nLanka took the lead in the world community relating to vaccination programmes.\nThe Sri Lankan Government has now embarked on a vigorous vaccination programme.\nThough it has not been made mandatory by law, rumours have unsettled those\nreluctant to be vaccinated. It is rumoured that a vaccination card will have to\nbe produced to board public transport when seeking treatment at hospitals etc.\nCritics maintain this is equivalent to an illegal mandatory requirement adopted\nby public bodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Public Opinion<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most people harbour a\nreluctance to get vaccinated owing to the fear of long-term side effects. Their\nview is that compulsive vaccination cannot be made mandatory as it stifles the\nfreedom of choice of the masses. Some even say it violates freedom of choice\ndue to the provisions enshrined in the Sri Lankan Constitution! Critics also\nsay it goes against good social ethics and makes an entire society cow down by\nrestrictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Indeed, it is their\nunderstandable fear as each one should have the freedom to choose because it\nconcerns one’s body and life. In the UK, for instance, anyone has the space to\ntell their GP or a consultant doctor that, “No, I am not going to listen\nto your instructions because this is my body, and it is my life \u2013 and you\ncannot take decisions on my life and my body.” But it is a different\nkettle of fish in Sri Lanka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Critics against vaccination\nmaintain that “unusual blood clots are a possible side effect of the\nvaccine”, and studies have proved it to be so. Blood clots in circulation\nare deadly as they may precipitate pulmonary embolism, strokes, and heart\nattacks! The development of blood clots places lives in danger, and what about\nother risk factors yet to come? Therefore, critics claim that guidelines should\nbe given to service providers such as hospitals, transport organisations,\ncinema halls etc., not to demand vaccination cards and allow people to exercise\ntheir choice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strikes and protests<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the non-availability\nof toxic fertiliser for this Kanne, the opposition and the JVP have organised\nprotests and strikes through trade unions, including the education sector,\nagainst the Kotelawela National Defence University (KNDU) Bill. Protest\ncampaigns have taken place in different parts of the country. The Ceylon\nTeachers Union (CTU) General Secretary was arrested during such a demonstration\nand moved to the Mullaitivu Quarantine facility for breaking health guidelines.\nThe Police proceeded to control people as they were gathering while ignoring\nthe law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By behaving so, health\nauthorities say another cluster may break out soon! Meanwhile, the online\neducation system crashed when teachers withdrew in support of the protesters\nbreaking health regulations. The Police naturally had to take appropriate\naction and send them to quarantine centres. People have a different opinion on\nPolice behaviour in a chaotic state of affairs. The demonstrators had to be\ncarried by the Police taking risks to their own lives whenever they submitted\nmeekly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Government had no\noption but to utilise Army personnel under the circumstances to vaccinate\npeople rather than sending them home being irritated and frustrated. It\nresulted in Sri Lanka coming on top of the list amongst vaccinated countries.\nPublic opinion is that \u2018with any dispute with the Government, the protesters\nshould take it up with the regime and not interfere with online education of\ninnocent children. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, social media has\ngone viral with criticism that some of the JVP stalwarts’ children are studying\nin overseas countries while they turn a blind eye to the helpless children in\nSri Lanka. Therefore, it is crystal clear what the opposition and the JVP are\nplaying a political game to make the present Government unpopular. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Homoeopathy, Ayurveda, and\nTraditional Treatment<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few Homoeopathy drugs are\nhighly effective against the COVID-19 virus and cure those afflicted with the\ndisease, immaterial of the variants, within 48 hours, with no complications or\nhospitalisation, says Dr. Mass R. Usuf (President of the National Association\nof Homoeopaths & Affiliates). He furthers advises that the Government Homoeopathic\nHospital in Welisara can be utilised as a centre to cure those affected by\nCovid-19 – with mortality reduced to zero and fast recovery with no severe\ncomplications! Thousands of people would prefer to have homoeopathic, ayurvedic\ntreatment or traditional methods rather than being subjected to vaccination and\nmaking their bodies vulnerable to serious side effects. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is especially so among\nthose who believe in conventional medicine, which has been in existence from\ntime immemorial, state that Sri Lankans had weathered many an infectious\ndisease in the past. With the onslaught of COVID19, many Homoeopaths, Ayurvedic\ndoctors, traditional doctors (vedamahattayas) have invented numerous methods to\nfight against the Covid-19 virus and its variants, enabling a boosted immune\nsystem to fight against any infection and as a prophylactic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest is a germ killer\ninhaler, using rare traditional herbs available in this country where our\nancestors used to combat any epidemic. It is available in the local market and\nis said to address any virus, be it COVID-19 or any other variant \u2013 obviously\nmore convenient than gobbling. It would violate human rights to compel the\nmasses to undergo vaccination by law or by an illegal mandatory requirement\nadopted by public bodies. Critics are getting ready for setting up an\nanti-vaccination lobby to resort to legal action against any such moves! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(tilakfernando@gmail.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Dr. Tilak S. Fernando\u00a0 The emergence of COVID-19 in December 2019 in China spread like wildfire. In January 2020, despite China imposing a lockdown in Wuhan, the virus spread to the mainland and eventually worldwide. The pandemic has affected millions of people worldwide.  The death rate is over four million up to date. Sri […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-116837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-by-drtilak-s-fernando"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116837\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}