27 April 2021 11:18 pm
Sri Lanka will get 1,440,000 doses of vaccines to provide immunity against Covid under COVAX facility, which is mainly funded by the United States.
US is the single largest donor to COVAX which has committed 8.4 million doses of vaccines to Sri Lanka. COVAX is a platform to provide equitable global access and distribution of safe, effective, and high-quality WHO-authorized vaccines.
According to the US embassy, the country had already donated US$ 2 billion to COVAX and will provide another similar amount. COVAX has committed to providing 8.4 million vaccine vials to Sri Lanka, which will cover 20% of Sri Lanka’s population.
Sri Lanka had received its first delivery of 264,000 doses of COVAX vaccine in March. It is slated to receive 1,440,000 more vials by the end of May, with the remainder of the consignment to reach by the second half of 2021.
The embassy says the US Congress recently provided more than US$11 billion for America’s response to global COVID pandemic and to be used to save lives by supporting broad and equitable vaccine access; providing aid to mitigate secondary impacts of COVID, like hunger.
“Our support represents nearly 40% of all commitments to the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC),” the embassy said. (Kelum Bandara)