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Over 200k doses set aside for second jab

22 Mar 2021

  • Rollout after Sinhala and Tamil New Year

  • 10 to 12-week gap between doses 

  The Ministry of Health has set aside a stock of over 200,000 vaccine doses from the total of 1.2 million doses currently in Sri Lanka, with plans to start administering the second dose of the vaccine shortly after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year in April. Speaking to The Morning yesterday (21), Ministry of Health Epidemiology Unit Chief Epidemiologist Dr. Sudath Samaraweera told us that more than 200,000 Oxford-AstraZeneca “Covishield” doses, which arrived from India, are available to start the rollout of the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine on or around 19 April. “We have more than 200,000 doses of ‘Covishield’ to start administering dose two for two weeks and we are hoping to receive more vaccine stocks during this period. The Advisory Committee has recommended that it should be given 10 to 12 weeks after the first dose. Week 10 will begin after 10 April. Due to the New Year holidays, it is highly likely that the rollout would commence on 19 April,” he said yesterday. When asked whether the second dose would be administered on the dates that are mentioned on the Covid-19 vaccination cards issued to those who received the first dose, Dr. Samaraweera said that the dates would change and that announcements would be made to inform the public on when to receive their second dose. “They would not receive the second dose on the date written on the vaccination card. We will be announcing what the date for the second dose is depending on the date of the immunisation of the first dose; people will be informed.” Dr. Samaraweera explained that this is because the dates that were initially marked on the vaccine cards were based on the initially recommended four-week gap between the two doses. This was later on expanded to a 10 to 12-week gap following new developments in findings that concluded this longer gap provides optimal results. The second dose would not need to be administered in the same order in which the first dose was administered provided the second dose is administered to the individual within the given time period. The Chief Epidemiologist said that the dose could be obtained at a convenient time depending on the rollout plan and the arrangement of the immunisation clinic. However, he added that if anyone fails to receive the second dose before week 12 ends, they should receive it as early as possible. Sri Lanka started its rollout of Serum Institute India’s (SII) Oxford-AstraZeneca “Covishield” vaccine on 29 January, vaccinating the country’s frontline workers in the health sector and security forces after receiving a donation of 500,000 doses from India’s “Vaccine Maitri” programme the previous day. On 25 February, Sri Lanka received another 500,000 Covishield doses which the country had purchased, while a batch of 264,000 doses of the same arrived on 7 March under the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) COVAX facility. A total of 829,220 individuals received their first dose of the vaccine by Saturday (20). Despite reports of an alleged letter from the SII stating that it cannot guarantee the delivery of the one million Covishield doses Sri Lanka is awaiting during March and April, the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) said on 8 March that they have been informed that the vaccines would arrive in Sri Lanka during the given timeframe.  


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