Sri Lanka to purchase 3.5 million Covid-19 vaccines from UK
February 23, 2021 12:15 pm
Cabinet of Ministers has given the approval to purchase 3.5 million of Covid-19 vaccines from the United Kingdom, says the Department of Government Information.
Accordingly, Sri Lanka State Pharmaceutical Corporation will enter into an agreement with the AstraZeneca PLC for the procurement.
Relevant proposal has been tabled by Acting Minister of Health Prof. Channa Jayasumana.
In the meantime, the government has decided to purchase 10 million Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccines for USD 52.5 million, as a direct procurement from the Serum Institute in India.
Further, the Cabinet approval was granted to sign Standardized Indemnification Agreement submitted by the COVAX mechanism in order to expedite vaccination process under the COVAX facility.
Ministry of Health plans to vaccinate 14 million of the total population of the country, the Government Information Department said further.