Ceylon Chamber welcomes acceleration of vaccine drive

The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce yesterday commended the efforts taken by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Ministry of Health and other relevant authorities to accelerate the process of vaccinating the population to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In a statement the Chamber said it was pleased to note that the Government had been able to secure a substantial quantity of vaccines from different sources and that it has already received the delivery of a significant stock. It is particularly noteworthy that a solution has been found to address the predicament of those who had obtained the first dose of the AstraZeneca/Covishield vaccine some time ago.

While acknowledging the increased availability of vaccines through multiple channels, the Ceylon Chamber requested the authorities to introduce a more streamlined process that would reduce the congestion and time spent by citizens at or near vaccination centres. 

It said it would be happy to mobilise more resources from the private sector, including those from the well-established network of private hospitals, to reduce the burden on the State machinery to implement this critical activity. This can be done while adhering strictly to guidelines set by the Ministry of Health, similar to the manner in which testing and the operation of intermediate treatment centres are being carried out, it added.

The Chamber strongly believes that vaccination of a significant proportion of the population is the only sustainable solution to overcome the challenges posed by the pandemic. It hopes that the acceleration of the vaccination drive will pave the way to open the country gradually facilitating both tourism and business travel, which is needed to promote trade and investment. This will eventually help to restore economic activity to pre-pandemic levels in the near future enabling all segments of the population to rebuild their livelihoods.