First Sri Lankans to be vaccinated against Covid 19 will be MPs probably on Feb 4
ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka is likely to begin vaccinating “select citizens” against Covid 19 in early February, probably on Independence Day with the Indian Serum Institute produced vaccine which is a version of the so-called Oxford Vaccine, highly-placed sources told EconomyNext.
This will be with the doses India has announced it will begin to distribute to its neighbours in the coming week as part of its “vaccine diplomacy.”
The first people to get the vaccine are likely to be Sri Lankan Members of Parliament and frontline Healthcare workers, the source said.
The Times of India has reported that the first destinations would be in India’s immediate neighbourhood, like Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Maldives and Mauritius to help them kickstart their own vaccination processes against the coronavirus.
The first shipments would be a goodwill gesture, while subsequently, the countries concerned would get on a payment basis from either the Serum Institute or Bharat Biotech the Times said.
The Serum Institute product is called COVISHIELD and is a derivative of the AstraZeneca Oxford Vaccine developed under license in India. Our giant neighbour is also ready to ship vaccines developed through its own research institute Bharat Biotech, a state-run research body.
Several countries such as badly hit Brazil have opted for that product although final testing is yet to be done.
India’s Foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar promised Sri Lanka, India would make vaccines available to them too on his recent visit to Colombo when he met with President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.
This set of vaccines are not among the vaccines intended for the first most vulnerable twenty per cent of the population that Sri Lanka will receive free of charge through the World Health Organisation sponsored COVAX program.
India started its own vaccination program two days ago with nearly 200,000 people getting the jab free of charge.
