The State Pharmaceutical Corporation (SPC) has sent the purchase order for 18 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccines manufactured by India, says State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Channa Jayasumana.

Speaking on the matter earlier today, State Minister of Primary Health Care, Epidemics and COVID Disease Control Sudarshini Fernandopulle said the 18 million more doses of the vaccines are required for the inoculation of the remaining target groups and that a sum of Rs 10 billion has already been identified for purchasing the vaccines.

She also announced that the government has taken a policy decision to vaccinate the members of the public aged between 30 – 60 years as the majority COVID-19 infections in the country fall within this age group.

Under the COVAX facility, the World Health Organization (WHO) has agreed to provide Sri Lanka with 20 percent of the vaccine requirement to vaccinate 4.2 million of the population, she said further.

As per Sri Lanka’s COVID-19 figures, 10 percent of the total number of confirmed positive cases are above the age of 60, however, the majority belong to the age group between 30 – 60 years, the state minister explained.

On the 28th of January, a consignment of 500,000 Covishield vaccines was donated to Sri Lanka by the Indian Government under its “Vaccine Maitri” (Vaccine Friendship) initiative, following a request made by the President to Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi.

Accordingly, Sri Lanka kicked off its inoculation drive on the 29th of January. More than 100,000 persons have been administered the vaccine so far. Under the first phase, Sri Lanka expects to vaccinate some 150,000 health workers, 120,000 members of Tri-Forces, Police and security forces who are at the frontline of COVID-19 prevention operations, on priority basis.

Covishield is the name for Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India. The shots developed by UK-based drugmaker AstraZeneca and Oxford University are being mass-produced at India’s Serum Institute – world’s largest vaccine manufacturer.

The vaccine, which is known as Covishield, is developed from a weakened version of a common cold virus (known as an adenovirus) from chimpanzees. This was approved for emergency use by Government of Sri Lanka last month.