President Gotabaya Rajapaksa today said that 600,000 vials of Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine will be delivered to Sri Lanka from India on January 27.
The Indian High Commission in Colombo welcomed the emergency use approval of COVISHIELD vaccines by the Sri Lankan government on Friday (22). They also said that the Indian authorities are working with Sri Lanka to expedite the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine which is manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
State Minister for Pharmaceutical Production and Regulation Prof. Channa Jayasumana confirmed that health authorities at the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) have granted emergency use authorisation for the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine.
No commission for the local agent !
Serum Institute of India is an Indian biotechnology and pharmaceuticals company. It is the world's largest vaccine manufacturer.
Meanwhile, a senior official of the Ministry of Health affirmed that the local agent of the Serum Institute of India, the manufacturers of the COVISHIELD vaccine which is scheduled to be imported from India and distributed free of charge by the State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC), will not charge any commission.
The majority of vaccines currently used in Sri Lanka are also manufactured by the Serum Institute of India.
India announced last week that it will send COVID-19 vaccines under grant assistance to Sri Lanka and seven other countries including Bhutan, Maldives, Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Afghanistan and Mauritius.
