Mr. Weeratunga stated this at the media briefing on the Covid-19 vaccine held at the Government Information Department today (27).

Following a request made by the Sri Lankan President from Indian Prime  Minister Narendra Modi, Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine manufactured by the Serum Institute of India will be brought to Sri Lanka tomorrow (28) and five lakhs of vaccines will be received for about 250,000 individuals.

The necessity of a Covid-19 vaccine has been widely discussed in Sri Lanka due to the negative impact of the pandemic on the socio-economic background of the country. Hence, the Government along with the assistance of the health sector carried out a huge task to receive the vaccine.

Mr. Weeratunga further affirmed that the World Health Organization has given its approval to the said vaccine while the National Medicines Regulatory Authority of Sri Lanka has approved it as an emergency treatment for coronavirus.

Vaccines will be transported to cold storage of the health ministry and will be stored under storage facilities covering the 25 districts.

A priority list of vaccine recipients has been put forth and it includes frontline workers of the health sector, armed forces, police personnel, airport staff, and the aging population (60+).

He further stated, the government is expecting a donation of 300,000 doses of the Chinese manufactured Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine in the near future and at the request of the Sri Lanka President, the Russian Sputnik vaccine will be brought to Sri Lanka as a donation.

Sri Lankan government has ordered two to three million doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the manufacturer, Serum Institute of India, which is to be received in near future.