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Vaccines won’t come soon in large quantities, but on staggered basis from India and COVAX
Sri Lanka will not be able to immediately secure the large quantities of COVID-19 vaccines that the country was expecting from India and the global initiative COVAX, but will get stocks over a period of time, the Sunday Times learns.
A Health Ministry source said that earlier Sri Lanka was hoping to secure 9-10 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVISHIELD vaccine from India’s Serum Institute, with 1.5 million coming in from the end of this month to April. The vaccines were due in three batches of 500,000 by the end of this month, in March and in April.
However, with the Serum Institute price being US$ 5.25 per dose there has been a delay, the source said, adding that the vaccine is going to Bangladesh at US$ 4, as that country made an early booking and also paid up some funds.
“We need to act fast, negotiate quickly and do the smart thing. Otherwise, Sri Lanka may lose out on this opportunity as well,” the source said.
Sri Lanka is due to sign an agreement shortly with the Serum Institute, it is understood, with some experts stating that as this vaccination programme is very vast, it is better to get stocks on a staggered basis as the shelf-life of vaccines also needs to be taken into account.
Meanwhile, even though COVAX had assured Sri Lanka that it might provide doses to vaccinate 27-30% (earlier it was 20%) of the population and the first tranche of 0.5 to 1 million doses was expected this month, now the country will only get 265,000 (about 1/4th) doses by February 25, it is understood.