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All people eligible for vaccination should take any vaccine being offered reiterates Prof. Malavige
With vaccines being uppermost in the minds of many people, we asked Prof. Neelika Malavige, Head of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Medicine, University of Sri Jayewardenepura, for her expert views on this subject.
Clearly she reiterates that vaccination and preventive measures (wearing face masks, hand hygiene, keeping a distance of more than 1.5 metres from others when in public places and avoiding crowded and congested places) are the only weapons against COVID-19.
Prof. Neelika Malavige
This is also the only way, as experienced by other countries, to achieve the new normalcy that people have to live and work in, she says.
“While the risk of severe disease and death reduces in those who are fully vaccinated, there are also other factors which need to be taken into account when focusing on this issue,” she says, explaining that the older a person is, even if vaccinated, the chances of succumbing to the virus increase as also for those with uncontrolled co-morbidities such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, etc.
Referring to reports from Colombo that some, especially those in the 20 to 30 age group, were delaying getting the jab due to the preference of some vaccines over others, Prof. Malavige strongly recommended that all people eligible for vaccination should take any vaccine being offered. The more people who are vaccinated, the quicker Sri Lanka can resume its economic activity.
She says: “This group appears to be more hesitant to take the vaccine because of certain myths that the vaccines may cause fertility issues and impotence. These are completely false. A small study has found that it is the COVID-19 infection that might increase the risk of impotence, whereas there is no evidence that any vaccine had any such side-effect.
“Others, meanwhile, are not taking the vaccines because they have plans to travel or migrate and as such they are awaiting certain vaccines. Unless someone is on the verge of travelling immediately, it is very unwise to put off vaccination just because they have plans of going abroad sometime in the future.
“Even though younger people, than the elderly, are at much lower risk of developing severe disease, some of them do develop severe disease. Expectant mothers are especially susceptible to developing severe disease and as such it is very important that they get vaccinated.”
Pointing out that in some, especially those who are immune-compromised (including cancer patients, those on immune-suppression medications and those in the extreme age group such as the very old), vaccines may not provide full protection or take longer to start giving protection, she urged that these are the people who should be given a ‘booster’ dose.
She assures that the gap between taking the two doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine is not an issue and when looking at the different varieties of vaccines, studies in other countries had found that AstraZeneca had a strong immune response, once fully vaccinated, at least for about six months. In older people, the immunity began waning after that and it would be crucial to give this age-group a booster.
Studies undertaken by Prof. Malavige’s team in Sri Lanka have found that the immune response in those who are fully vaccinated is good even after three months.
When asked about vaccinating children below 18 years of age, she said that it is only the United States of America and some European countries that have vaccinated healthy children in the 12-15 year group, but not many others. Usually, when administering a vaccine, the most important factor that is taken into account is the risk-benefit ratio (this is whether the benefit of taking the vaccine outweighs the risk).
Prof. Malavige says: “While considering people over-60 (elderly), the benefit of taking the vaccine far outweighs the risk as in a majority, the vaccine prevents severe disease and death. However, in children in the 12-15 year age group, according to data from the United Kingdom, the benefit is only marginal.
“Some countries, meanwhile, are only administering one dose of the vaccine to children. Therefore, while there is no question about vaccinating children with comorbidities, it is good to evaluate more data about vaccinating healthy children and the number of doses they should be given.
“Our country has one of the best immunization programmes in the world and the people have utmost faith in the Health Ministry’s immunization programme. All vaccines currently being administered in Sri Lanka have no safety concerns in the age groups they are given to.”
When asked about a case where an adult who had been fully vaccinated a while ago had become positive about a month ago with mild COVID-19 but more recently was severely ill, Prof. Malavige said that it was “very, very rare” and out of the ordinary.
Her suggestion was that this person’s doctors need to check out whether there is something else going on, which is impacting on his immunity.
| About the booster shot When considering a booster or 3rd jab to strengthen the immune response against COVID-19 in specific high-risk categories, scientific evidence indicates that it should be of a “different” type of vaccine than the first two doses, says Prof. Neelika Malavige. Here are the types being recommended internationally:
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