Over 17 million doses of vaccines to arrive in Sri Lanka from July to September

COLOMBO: The World Bank commended Sri Lanka’s approach to the procurement process of purchasing Covid-19 vaccines.

Dr. Prasanna Gunasena, chairman of the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC), said that the World Bank has recognized the SPC as the leading institution when compared with other institutions in South Asian countries in terms of transparency when purchasing vaccines.

As recognition of this, Dr. Gunasena said Sri Lanka will be given access to make payments through the World Bank website when purchasing vaccines.

This came to light during a discussion held with the Special Committee on COVID-19 at the Presidential Secretariat.

Over 17 million doses of vaccines, including Sinopharm, Sinovac, and Sputnik V are expected to arrive in the country from July to September.

The president emphasized the need to formulate a program to administer the vaccines to more people throughout the country within a short period of time.

The president of the Government Medical Officers’ Association, Dr. Anuruddha Padeniya, noted that a proposal to conduct the vaccination drive at selected hospitals will be submitted to the Director-General of Health Services.

Dr. Padeniya said that this will enable the public to receive vaccines from those hospitals throughout the day on most days.