Sri Lanka is expected to receive the first batch of COVID vaccines under the COVAX facility this weekend, says State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Sudarshini Fernandopulle. The vaccine consignment with 264,000 doses will accordingly arrive in Sri Lanka on Sunday (March 07). World Health Organization (WHO), under the COVAX facility, had agreed to provide Sri Lanka with 20 percent of the vaccine requirement to vaccinate 4.2 million of the population. The shots developed by UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and Oxford University are being mass-produced at Serum Institute of India (SII) – world’s largest vaccine manufacturer. In the meantime, a consignment of 500,000 doses of COVISHIELD vaccines purchased from India arrived in Sri Lanka on February 25.

Source: The Nation March 03, 2021 08:03 UTC