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Decision on buying 14 m booster shots next week

24 Sep 2021

  • Pending Communicable Diseases Advisory Committee advice
  • Four million Pfizer doses for 1.7 m children due end-October
  • ACCD to advise on extra doses for those with spcl. needs, low immunity, elderly
BY Pamodi Waravita State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) Chairman Dr. Prasanna Gunasena said yesterday (23) that based on the advice of the Health Ministry’s Advisory Committee on Communicable Diseases (ACCD), the ‌decision on whether to purchase a further 14 million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine, as a booster shot for the population, will be taken next week. “In May this year, we signed an agreement based on the ACCD’s recommendations to secure four million Pfizer-BioNTech doses for children, and 14 million extra doses. We have already paid the cost for the four million Pfizer-BioNTech doses, all of which will be in the country by the end of October. The ACCD Expert Committee is due to meet next week and they will inform us as to how many extra doses are necessary for us to allocate them as boosters for those with special needs and low immunity, and the elderly,” added Dr. Gunasena at the Presidential Media Centre (PMC) press briefing held yesterday. He added that the four million Pfizer-BioNTech doses, which have already been purchased, would be sufficient for the approximately 1.7 million children who have been identified by health experts as being eligible for the vaccine. He noted that the country has, to date, received about 31 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines, of which only 6.5 million doses were donations. Health Ministry Deputy Director General (DDG) of Medical Services Dr. G. Wijesuriya said last week that if a third dose is administered, healthcare workers who received the Covid-19 vaccines during the first round of the vaccination drive would be prioritised. Earlier this month, the Sri Lanka Medical Association (SLMA) recommended that people over 60 years of age who had already been given two doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, and those with a weak immune system, be given a third dose of either the Oxford-AstraZeneca, Pfizer-BioNTech, or Moderna vaccines. The SLMA has also suggested that as there may be a waning of immunity with time, a booster dose of the same or a different vaccine be given to people over 60 years who had been given two doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca, at least six months after the second dose.  


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