COLOMBO : Some 150,000 doses will be used to vaccinate persons in the Galle, Matara, and Kurunegala Districts, taking the country’s COVID-19 immunisation program beyond the Western Province, the department of information announced here on Thursday.
Priority for vaccination will be given to groups selected by health units.
A quarter of the consignment of 500,000 doses of Sinopharm the island received from China on Wednesday has been allocated for the vaccination of select persons out of the Western Province, with the remaining set aside to administer the second dose.
The remaining 375,000 doses of Sinopharm will be set aside to administer the second dose of the vaccine, which will commence on 8 June.
While the 500,000 doses of Sinopharm were a donation from China, the country previously received a donation of 600,000 doses of the same vaccine from China. Three million doses of Sinopharm ordered by Sri Lanka are due to arrive in the island soon, the Department of Government Information stated. According to the Epidemiology Unit, 1,461,696 persons have received the first dose of the Sinopharm, Sputnik V, and AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccines and 343,976 persons have received the second dose as well.
“ Since the outbreak of the pandemic, China and Sri Lanka have always supported and helped each other, lifting our traditional friendship to a new height. As a good neighbor, good friend and good partner of Sri Lanka through thick and thin, no matter in the past, present or future, as long as something is beneficial to Sri Lanka, China will never be absent. As long as some work delivers benefits to the Sri Lankan people, China will not hesitate to do it. On behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka, I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to everyone for their selfless dedication to China-Sri Lanka friendship,” a statement from the Chinese embassy said here on Thursday
This includes 3,646 persons who received the first dose of Sinopharm and 699 persons who received the second dose of AstraZeneca on Wednesday.
At present, 925,242 persons have received the first dose of AstraZeneca, 341,541 persons have received the second dose of AstraZeneca, 521,470 persons have received the first dose of Sinopharm, 2,435 persons have received the second dose of Sinopharm, and 14,984 persons have received the first dose of Sputnik V.
