SLMA calls for tough movement restrictions & recommends vaccines for elders

COLOMBO (News 1st); The Sri Lanka Medical Association has called on the president to declare a very severe mobility restriction amounting to a lockdown for a minimum of two weeks.

The SLMA says this needs to be done while maintaining essential services and the program for vaccination should not be interrupted.

Further, the Sri Lanka Medical Association said it is important to allocate vaccines that provide some immunity even with a single dose to all elders and to people with comorbidities.

The SLMA added that certain vaccines such as Moderna, Pfizer-BioNTech, and AstraZeneca evoke significant protection following a single dose of the vaccine, while a single dose of Sinopharm provides no protection until two weeks after a second dose is given.

As there is a need for rapidly inducing immunity in high-risk individuals such as those with comorbidities and in older people over 60 years, the Sri Lanka Medical Associations considers vaccinating older people and people with comorbidities with the above-mentioned vaccines would save more lives. They could be vaccinated in the community as well as in the hospitals, it added.