Vaccination drive expedited
The vaccination programme throughout the country has been expedited with the availability of ample stocks of various vaccines. The total number of all COVID-19 vaccine doses brought to the country so far for the immunisation programme exceeds 20 million, according to Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals State Minister Professor Channa Jayasumana.
The number of doses of all vaccines brought to the country increased to 22.8 million with the arrival of three million doses of the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine manufactured in China this week.
The Epidemiology Unit of the Health Ministry said that 12,255,121 persons have been given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and that 6,464,296 persons have obtained the second dose as well.
The country has received 2.8 million AstraZeneca vaccine doses, 195,000 Sputnik V doses, 17.7 million Sinopharm doses, 540,540 Pfizer doses and 1.5 million Moderna doses. Incidentally, Pfizer has received full US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. It is the first vaccine to get full approval – until now, all vaccines had only Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA). Moderna, the other mRNA-based vaccine, is also due to receive full FDA approval soon. Both vaccines are being administered in Sri Lanka.
The vaccines now available in Sri Lanka were received through purchases, donations and the World Health Organization’s Covax facility. Sri Lanka received 1.5 million doses of the Moderna vaccine through the Covax facility operated by the WHO as a donation from the United States of America.
Also, 264,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine were received through the same WHO Covax facility and similarly, another 1.6 million doses of AstraZeneca were received from Japan. Initially, India donated 500,000 million doses of the AstraZeneca Covishield vaccine, the version licensed by the Serum Institute of India (SII). However, the export ban imposed by India curtailed further shipments of Covishield from the SII. Similarly, 2.7 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine were received as a donation from China while the rest of the Sinopharm doses were direct purchases.
The vaccination programme will soon be extended to the 18-30 group, though some among this group have already got the vaccine as they work for essential services such as garment factories, ports and airports and media. Moreover, the on-call at home vaccination programme launched by the Army in the Western Province has now been extended to many other provinces.
Those over 60 who are unable to leave home due to whatever reason to get the jab at a vaccination centre can call 1906 to get registered for this service. Upon registration, a team will come to the caller’s residence and administer the vaccine.
Overall, the vaccines are being given at nearly 300 centres islandwide. Meanwhile, the five million mark was passed for PCR and Rapid Antigen Tests performed islandwide to detect COVID patients, with a daily average of 18,000 tests. Sri Lanka has so far recorded 412,000 COVID cases, with 351,000 recoveries. There are 53,000 active cases under observation, while 8,157 deaths have been recorded.
Pictures by Wimal Karunathilake, Ranjith Asanka, Hirantha Gunathilake, Sudath Malaweera, Anuradha Priyadarshana
source https://www.dailynews.lk/2021/08/28/local/257801/vaccination-drive-expedited
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