Pfizer boost for vaccination drive
The first consignment of Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines consisting of 26,000 doses arrived yesterday in Colombo, giving a further boost to the country’s vaccination drive.
This is the first batch of 800,000 doses to be delivered in the next few weeks. A total of five million vaccines Pfizer financed through the World Bank’s Sri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project will be supplied by December 2021, the World Bank and the Health Ministry said yesterday.
The Pfizer mRNA vaccines were rushed to the Health Ministry’s ultra cold chain storage facility at the National Blood Transfusion Centre in Colombo upon delivery at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA), as they have to be kept at -70 Celsius.
State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana said 78,000 doses of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine will be delivered to Sri Lanka in the first three weeks of July at a rate of 26,000 doses per week. The vaccines were procured through the procedure established in the loan agreement signed with the Government of Sri Lanka in May 2021, as well as the two criteria for the World Bank vaccine approval.
Sri Lanka has widened the vaccination programme as more vaccines are arriving in the country. On Sunday, another one million Sinopharm vaccines arrived at the BIA in Colombo.
It is now possible for persons aged 30-60 in many districts to walk-in to vaccination centres run by the Security Forces without a prior appointment to get their COVID vaccine while the normal vaccination programme for over 60s is also continuing. According to the latest available statistics (July 4), 925,242 persons have received the first dose of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine while 384,047 have received its second dose. A total 1,931,714 persons have received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, whose second dose has been received by 851,969 persons. Sputnik V has been given to 114,795 persons (first dose) and 14,427 (second dose).
Sri Lanka is also expecting one million doses of the Moderna vaccine through the WHO COVAX facility and also further consignments of Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines.
World Bank funding can be provided for vaccines that received regular or emergency license or authorization from at least one of the Stringent Regulatory Authorities identified by the World Health Organization for vaccines procured and/or supplied under the COVAX facility, and vaccines that received WHO prequalification or WHO emergency use listing. The Sri Lanka COVID-19 Emergency Response and Health System Preparedness Project with a total of $298.07 million, including additional $80.5 million for vaccine support, has contributed to Sri Lanka’s pandemic management and prevention efforts.
“The delivery of this first batch of vaccines reflects the joint work of the government of Sri Lanka and its partners to ensure fair access to safe and effective vaccines for Sri Lankans,” said Faris H. Hadad-Zervos, World Bank Country Director for Maldives, Nepal, and Sri Lanka. “More vaccines are under review and will arrive by year’s end.”
“The pandemic has undermined some of Sri Lanka’s impressive human capital gains achieved through many years of investment,” said Lynne D. Sherburne-Benz, Regional Director for Human Development, South Asia Region. “We are happy to support Sri Lanka as it endeavors to regain the losses to health, education and social protection and secure a better future for all Sri Lankans.
The country has to date recorded 265,630 patients since the first local COVID-19 case was detected in March last year, while 3,236 deaths have been reported. Presently the active patient count in the country stands at 27,452.
source http://www.dailynews.lk/2021/07/06/local/253252/pfizer-boost-vaccination-drive
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