ECONOMYNEXT – All Coronairus deaths in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo are among the unvaccinated and those who had not taken a booster up to 8 months later, said a city health official as mortality started to climb with the spread of Omicron.
“Among the deaths due to Covid 19 in Colombo this year, none of them had taken their booster shots,” said Ruwan Wijayamuni, Chief Medical Officer of Health at the Colombo Municipal Council Public Health Department.
The people who succumbed to Covid so far this year have not received the vaccine at all, or just the first dose only, or had got two doses, but not the booster shot, Wijayamuni explained. “There was no one among the dead who took the booster dose this year”.
Since the booster dose initiation in July 2021, public turnout was low compared to the rollout of the first and second doses. In the last six months of 2021, only 4,052,911 people got their booster shots.
Even during the first few weeks of January 2022, the general public was not actively participating in the third dose administration.
However, with the number of patients increasing from mid-January, the general public started to get the booster dose.
In the last few days, more people were taking the booster, with the daily take-up going to over 90,000 from 20,000 two weeks earlier, data shows.
In January 2022, health officials jabbed 1,208,094 people with the booster dose, increasing the number of booster dose receivers in the country.
“We were able to control the third wave effectively,” Wijayamuni said. “However, with the Omicron variant coming into the country, the numbers of patients have started to increase day by day.
“In Sri Lanka, the number of patients has gone up by around 15 percent in the past few days. “And deaths in Colombo has gone up by four percent.”
Health authorities identified 1,156 patients on Wednesday (02), increasing the number of patients in the country to 613,478. So far, 18,206 patients are receiving treatments in medical centres or the home-based care system.
With 19 more deaths due to Covid 19 reported on Wednesday, the death toll increased to 15,492.
Wijayamuni said the main reason for both factors is not taking the booster shot within the prescribed period.
“In Colombo, we have given the first dose for 96 percent of the eligible population, of which 88 percent got the second dose,” Wijayamuni said.
“When we initiated the booster dose, in the beginning, the general public showed interest in getting the shot, but we saw enthusiasm decrease with time.”
“We found alternatives to increasing the number by visiting workplaces and households with elderly people to administer the vaccine, and also deployed mobile vaccination teams. We have increased the number of people vaccinated each day to around 2,000.”
Wijayamuni also said that the number of vaccinated students in government schools is less than in private or international schools in the district.
“In private schools, we saw more than 90 percent of participation among children to get the vaccine, but the rate in government schools was not more than 50 percent,” he said.
“We have started initiating programs about vaccination for the parents to encourage their children to take the vaccine.”
Meanwhile, the Deputy Director General of Health Services, Hemantha Herath, said those coming forward for the booster shot has increased in the past few days.
On Tuesday (01), 98,775 people received the booster dose, and on Wednesday (03), 96,264.
“At the moment, we have given the booster dose to 37 percent or 5,468,208 of the targeted population. If this continues at this rate, we will be able to cover the targeted population very soon,” Herath said. (Colombo/ February 3/ 2022)