Pfizer agrees to supply 5 million doses vaccines

• Sputnik V vaccine expected later this month
• Awaiting WHO emergency listing for administering Sinopharm

By Kelum Bandara   

Pfizer has agreed to supply five million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka under a commercial agreement with the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC), a Minister said yesterday. 

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana told the Daily Mirror the payment arrangement for the dispatch of Pfizer vaccines would be worked out later.  He said the dose of Pfizer vaccine was smaller than others, and therefore separate syringes will have to be arranged for administering it to people in the country. Besides, he said Sri Lanka had placed orders for 13 million doses of Sputnik V vaccine manufactured in Russia. It is a commercial arrangement between the SPC and Gamaleya Research Institute of Russia. The Minister said the Russian authorities would start the delivery process of the stock in batches starting from the end of this month.   “They will send us the stock in batches during the last week of every month starting from April,” he said. Asked about the regulatory clearance for China’s Sinopharm vaccine, he said it would be given immediately after the World Health Organization (WHO) listed it for emergency use. China has already donated 600,000 doses of this vaccine to Sri Lanka. Commenting on the Covid-19 situation, he said the health authorities were bracing for a spike of the cases by the next week.   

• dose of Pfizer vaccine is smaller than others, and therefore separate syringes will have to be arranged for administering it to people