A consignment of vaccines containing 728,000 more Oxford-AstraZeneca doses from Japan has arrived in Sri Lanka, says Prof. Channa Jayasumana, the State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals. The newly-received AstraZeneca vaccines will be rolled out in the Kegalle District, Prof. Jayasumana said further. Through the COVAX facility, the Japanese Government provided approximately 1.45 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in Japan to further boost Sri Lanka’s national inoculation drive. The first half of this vaccine consignment arrived in Sri Lanka last Saturday (July 31). This donation allowed Sri Lanka to resume the administration of AstraZeneca second doses, which was disrupted by India’s decision to temporarily halt AstraZeneca’s COVISHIELD vaccines in order to meet the domestic demand followed by a surge in COVID-19 infections at home in March.

Source: The Nation August 07, 2021 11:03 UTC