A stock of 728,460 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Japan through the COVAX facility has arrived in the island.
The consignment which arrived onboard a SriLankan Airlines flight at around 4.50 this evening was received by Minister of Health Pavithra Wanniarachchi and Minister of Foreign Affairs Dinesh Gunawardena.
Majority of the doses received today will be used to inoculate individuals who are expecting the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The remaining doses will be used to vaccinate residents of Kegalle. Sri Lanka is expected to receive 1.45 million doses of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from Japan.
Accordingly, the next batch will arrive in the country next Saturday.
Sri Lanka commenced the vaccination programme by administering the AstraZeneca Covishield doses in January.
925,242 persons have thus far received the first jab of the vaccine while both doses have been administered to 385,885 individuals.
Accordingly, another 539,357 persons are due to receive the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The administering of the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine will begin from tomorrow in Colombo.
