Voice of people
Sharing their thoughts regarding the recently issued gazette on banning entry of unvaccinated persons to public places, the public had this to say:
“How many boosters should be injected?”
“This gazette should be reversed. The facts are that the vaccinated as well as the unvaccinated can spread the virus. Covid numbers are not suddenly going to decrease just because the unvaccinated are forced out of public areas. This vaccine also loses strength over time, so how many boosters need to be injected every few months ? Find a better medicine which results in fewer allergies and is safer to be injected into the body, rather than forcing the public to take a shot which has only been around a short time and which has proven to result in other health complications for many.” – Shehana Dewapura
“Why force people?”
“What is the definition of this PUBLIC PLACE. As even roads are public places. Is this the final vaccination? What if powerful ‘pharma’ forces small countries to have a vaccine every 3 or 6 months? Recently almost everyone has had the cough and cold, some define this as Omicron, then why the booster dose? All these vaccinations were approved for emergency use. Then why force people? Our DNA is different to the West and so is our weather, has anybody in top posts given a thought about these or just trying to jab prior to expiry?” – Kushan Weerasinghe
“Enforce the law before Sinhala and Tamil New Year”
“Why wait till 30th of April? It should be done before the Sinhala Tamil New Year, so that there will be some sort of control” – Gaiyan Satharasinghe
“What about compensation?”
“Who takes responsibility in case of fatalities? And pay compensation to the kith and kin?” – Deen Zee
“The brilliant forgery market”
“The Government thought of introducing the vaccine card, then wanted to and was going to introduce and then postponed the decision. Can we have some consistency ? Besides, time frames change overnight with regard to the booster – for those who have got double vaccinated and yet contracted Covid; like myself. No one wants to get this wretched virus, we all, or most of us, will, get it somewhere down the line, I fear.
We’ve also heard of how incredibly brilliant the forgery market out there is. It’s only a matter of time when forged vaccination cards will be available for those who are anti-vaxxed. Well that’s if they are not circulating already. God help us !” – Kumar De Silva
“Is it a condition from a foreign country?
“The world is now moving towards removing vaccine mandates (Uk, Denmark, Norway etc..), because now COVID has become almost like a normal flu. On top of that, it’s clear that the current vaccines’ efficacy reduces significantly in few months, so what’s the use? Why would the government force people to take such a risk? I guess this is one of ‘conditions’ the Government of Sri Lanka got from some international countries when they were begging for more loans.” – Shenal Murray
“Good move to bring about discipline”
“Administration and execution will be key. In principle this is a good move to emphasise discipline, yet there are several points to ensure before committing to it.
Does Sri Lanka have the administrative capacity to enforce this directive? We have all seen how things as simple as traffic rules fail spectacularly on a daily basis. So what has the government planned differently in this case?
Looking at facts from the immediate past Sri Lanka has on many occasions retracted directives that enforce discipline. Why this is important is that if not executed properly it would reinforce the mediocre social culture and poor values prevalent in the country that are driving so many away from Sri Lanka.
Not all and anyone can access the required vaccinations equally. Booster shots have had a much slower adoption rate than the other dosages of the vaccine. Further complications can require some to take precautions or resort to types of vaccines that may not be readily available. Kids and teens still have not been fully covered and there are massive gaps in information regarding this; especially in areas out of Colombo.
These are only a few concerns
So many aspects need to be meticulously planned if such is to be successfully implemented.”
– Angelo De Silva