COLOMBO (News 1st); Sri Lanka is to receive 728,460 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Japan under the COVAX facility on Saturday (31). The Government of Japan decided to provide 1.47 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan to Sri Lanka through the COVAX Facility of the World Health Organization (WHO) to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka will receive half of this amount, which is 728,460 doses on Saturday (30) due to the difficulty in arranging flights. Approximately 540,000 Sri Lankans are awaiting the 02nd dose of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and 526,000 of them are from the Colombo and Gampaha Districts. The new batch of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine will be used as the second dose for those who already received the first dose while the remainder will be used in the vaccination drive in the Kegalle District.

Source: The Nation July 28, 2021 13:52 UTC