Sri Lanka says it will receive 264,000 doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines on Sunday as its first batch of COVID-19 vaccines under the COVAX Facility.
The vaccines, which are being delivered through UNICEF, mark the first allocation of 1.44 million doses of vaccines from the COVAX Facility the Indian Ocean island nation will receive, said the ministry of health. The doses will be procured in stages until May.
Sri Lanka has so far received 1 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccines manufactured in neighboring India, which donated half of the doses. Sri Lanka purchased the balance from India’s Serum Institute.
Sri Lanka began its inoculation drive in January, giving the vaccine first to front-line health workers. So far, more than 600,000 of the country’s 22 million people have been vaccinated.
