Sri Lanka to import 5 million doses of Pfizer vaccine

Sri Lanka will import 05 million doses of the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine this year.

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, Professor Channa Jayasumana said the Government expects to receive the first consignment in July.

Speaking during a special media briefing, he said the first batch will consist of between 300,000 to 400,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine.

The State Minister added that Pfizer-BioNTech has informed the Government that it will dispatch the first consignment by next month.?

On 7th May, the Advisory Board of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) approved the emergency use of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine in Sri Lanka.

State Minister Dr. Sudharshini Fernandopulle said at the time that five million doses of the vaccine will be imported by the Government.

Sri Lanka is in talks with various coronavirus vaccine manufacturers to acquire necessary vaccines, due to a shortage of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine manufactured in India.

The Serum Institute of India has delayed the delivery of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to the coronavirus outbreak in India.?

Commenting on the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine, State Minister Channa Jayasumana said the Chinese manufacturers of the vaccine have confirmed that they will dispatch 02 million doses within two months.

He said 01 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine will be dispatched to Sri Lanka on 06th June and another 01 million doses will be delivered on 09th June.

State Minister Jayasumana said Sri Lanka has so far received 1.2 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine.?

A total of 797, 205 people have received the first dose of the vaccine so far, with 57, 706 people among them being vaccinated yesterday. (Colombo Gazette)