COVID-19 vaccination program in Sri Lanka

COLOMBO (News 1st): 1) WILL THE RUSSIAN VACCINE BE BROUGHT TO SRI LANKA? The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka said the first consignment of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine is scheduled to arrive in the island on Tuesday morning. The consignment will include 15, 000 doses of Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine that must be administered in two doses. Russia has agreed to ship another batch of 200,000 COVID-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka. 2) WILL SRI LANKA RECEIVE THE SECOND DOSE OF THE INDIAN COVID-19 VACCINE? The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka has entered an agreement with the Serum Institute of India to obtain 1.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. As of now, Sri Lanka has received 500, 000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine. However, the Serum Institute of India is yet to respond on whether the remaining vaccines will be delivered. Sri Lankan is facing a shortage of about 600, 000 doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine due to be administered to those who received the first dose of the vaccine during the initial inoculation program. 3) HOW WILL SRI LANKA RESPOND TO THE INSUFFICIENT SUPPLY OF THE ASTRAZENECA COVID-19 VACCINE? Commander of Sri Lanka Army - General Shavendra Silva said India had not informed Sri Lanka that they could not provide the vaccines. Adding further, the Commander said, given the prevailing COVID-19 situation in India, there is a possibility that India might not be able to provide vaccines to foreign nations since they must take care of the domestic situation first. The Commander said, however, India had agreed to provide the vaccine. 3) WHAT IS THE STATUS OF THE AGREEMENT FOR THE PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE? The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka said it is taking steps to agree to purchase the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccines. The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka further said that the relevant firm has signed the agreement and sent it to Sri Lanka. Pfizer-BioNTech said the guidelines of administering the COVID-19 vaccine would be provided to the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka, once both parties have signed the agreement. However, Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine is yet to be approved by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka. The State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka, speaking to News 1st said an application form in this regard had not been received as of yet. A storage capacity of 70 degrees will be needed to store the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine. 4) HAS THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION APPROVED THE MODERNA COVID-19 VACCINE? The World Health Organization has listed Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use for those aged 18 and above. The World Health Organization said it was important to have more vaccines available because of the insufficient supply of vaccines worldwide. Moderna announced this week an expansion plan for its production network to boost its capacity to up to three billion doses in 2022. However, the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation of Sri Lanka has only approved the use of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine and Russia's Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.