Sri Lanka receives 264,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines

Sri Lanka on Sunday received the first batch of 264,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines provided under the World Health Organisation's COVAX facility, an official said. COVAX is the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level.

The first batch of the coronavirus vaccines from the COVAX facility arrived in Sri Lanka on Sunday, the state minister of COVID prevention Dr Sudarshini Fernandopulle said.

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) delivered the first shipment of 264,000 doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine provided to Sri Lanka under the World Health Organisation's COVAX facility.

The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, Covishield, has been developed in collaboration with Serum Institute of India (SII).

The first shipment of 264,000 COVAX vaccines was delivered through UNICEF via Emirates Sky Cargo, one of the ten leading airlines which have signed agreements under UNICEF's Humanitarian Airfreight Initiative. The UNICEF, Colombo said the procurement and delivery of this supply of the vaccines through the COVAX Facility underpins the National Deployment and Vaccination Plan of the Ministry of Health (MOH) and will provide critical vaccination support for 20 per cent of the population.