Sri Lanka can manage second dose of COVID19 vaccine until end of May

The decision by India to temporarily halt the exports of the Oxford-AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine will not have any immediate bearing on the vaccination programme in Sri Lanka, State Minister Prof Channa Jayasumana said.

 

He said that Sri Lanka is keeping on standby 400,000 doses for the second round of vaccine to be given to those who have already taken the fist dose.

 

“The second round of vaccine is due to commence from April 11 onwards and we can manage with the doses available until the end of May”, Prof Jayasumana said.

 

He said that so far 856,000 persons have been given the vaccine.

 

Sri Lanka initially received 500,000 doses from India as a gift and a similar number of doses India as part of what had been ordered  while 264,000 doses under the WHO programme.

 

The BBC and Indian media has reported that India was stopping exports in view of the domestic demand that is expected to pick up in the coming weeks.

 

,The "temporary squeeze" is expected to affect supplies until the end of April. Some 190 countries under the Covax scheme are likely to be affected.

 

The scheme, which is led by the World Health Organization (WHO), aims to ensure vaccines are shared fairly among all nations.

 

India's largest vaccine manufacturer, the Serum Institute of India (SII), has delayed shipments of the AstraZeneca jab to several countries in recent days, including the UK and Brazil.