In addition, the PMD said the Japanese Government has agreed to the President’s request for equipment needed for Covid-19 suppression. The matter had been communicated to the President during a meeting he held with Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Sugiyama Akira at the Presidential Secretariat yesterday. India gifted a total of 500,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on 28 January, and Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 vaccination drive commenced a day later. Also, Sri Lanka, last March, received the first batch of 264,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccines provided under the World Health Organisation’s (WHO’s) Covax facility. It was also revealed that negotiations are underway with several countries, including the United States, to bring the second dose of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine to Sri Lanka.

Source: The Nation June 09, 2021 18:45 UTC