A NATION ON EDGE The stock market reached for the skies, business confidence fast tracked its way up north and news of the first consignment of COVID-19 vaccines – a gift of 500,000 vials from neighbouring India, which may well have reached our shores by the time this edition goes into print – broke on 23 January, two days after Sri Lanka reopened its borders to tourists amid much fanfare. And with the first batch of the WHO’s four million vaccines reportedly due in March, there is reason to be cautiously optimistic about what the immediate future holds. On the other hand, Sri Lanka will need around six million more jabs if it is to immunise the 75 percent or so of our 14.4 million adult population to reach herd immunity. There’s also the important matter of a second dose for those who are vaccinated, which will double the number of vials we need. It has been said that Sri Lanka is well equipped to undertake a mass vaccination programme with the head of the presidential task force for vaccine deployment quoted in a Sunday newspaper saying that every household can be reached within a span of three days. Which makes one wonder why Sri Lanka has yet to order the full quota of vaccines the nation needs – given that immunisation remains our number one priority. The second wave of the pandemic has by no means ended with a daily average of 600-700 cases and three deaths being reported in January, on top of which the stigma attached to testing COVID-positive continues to haunt the nation and its people. In addition, any real respite for business and the economy will only come when we Sri Lankans are deemed to be relatively safe from contracting the virus. So a nation on edge lives in hope that the powers that be will expedite any plans they have to procure the vaccines we need to see the light of day.