• Sinopharm and Pfizer Covid-19 vaccines confirmed
• 26% of population fully vaccinated by yesterday 

By Shahaen Vishak

Sri Lanka is set to receive a total of 7.3 million doses (7,290,160) of the Chinese Sinopharm and BioNTech Pfizer vaccines by 13 September, beginning with a consignment of one million doses of Sinopharm which arrives today (24), well-placed sources confirmed to The Morning yesterday.

Today’s consignment of Sinopharm doses will be followed by another consignment of two million doses of the Chinese vaccine on 27 August, and another four million doses scheduled for delivery by the first week of September. 

Furthermore, after receiving 76,050 doses of the US-made BioNTech Pfizer vaccine yesterday (23), Sri Lanka is scheduled to receive 124,020 doses of the same vaccine on 30 August, 92,430 doses on 6 September, and 73,710 more doses on 13 September. Another 105,300 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are scheduled to arrive after 13 September, but no specific date of delivery has been provided for these. 

All of these vaccines have been purchased by the Government of Sri Lanka. 

As of yesterday, Sri Lanka had received 14.7 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine, of which 13.98 million, or 95%, have already been administered to citizens around the country, according to data from the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka.

President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, in his address to the nation last Friday (20), stated that around 98% of citizens over the age of 30 had been inoculated with at least one dose as of that day, with 43% of them having received both doses. 

“By 31 August, more than 81% of the population will be able to receive the second dose. By 10 September, 100% can receive both doses,” he had said. 

Statistics from the Health Ministry’s Epidemiology Unit show that close to 12.1 million (12,096,630) people, or 56% of the total population, have received at least one dose of any vaccine, while around 5.66 million (5,664,905), or 26% of the total population, have been inoculated with both doses, as at yesterday. 

Of this total, those inoculated with Sinopharm comprise around 9.58 million (9,584,978) people that have received at least one dose, and 4.41 million (4,414,527) that have received both doses. Those inoculated with Pfizer comprise 404,348 people that have received at least one dose, and 254,032 people that have received both doses.