The final decision of the Cabinet-appointed pricing committee has been received to procure a stock of the Russian anti-Covid-19 vaccine Sputnik V, at the price of US$ 9.95 per dose.
Speaking to The Morning, Ministry of Health Media Secretary Viraj Abeysinghe said yesterday (23) that the order to be placed is for a stock of the first dose of the vaccine.
“The pricing committee decision was granted to procure the Sputnik V vaccine for $ 9.95 per dose. There is no concrete deployment plan as of yet, but the order is to be placed for the first dose of the vaccine, as the two doses of the Sputnik V vaccine are different from each other, unlike the Oxford Astra-Zeneca ‘Covishield’ vaccine.”
The Sputnik V vaccine is administered through the injection of two different adenovirus vectors (rAd26 and rAd5), delivered separately in a first and second dose, with a gap of 21 days between the two doses.
The National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) granted emergency use registration for the Sputnik V vaccine on 4 March. When inquired by The Morning yesterday (23), NMRA CEO Dr. Kamal Jayasinghe said that registration has been granted for both doses.
The Morning learnt from the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation (SPC) that a stock of seven million doses is planned to be procured by the SPC from Russia. The Morning also learnt from SPC General Manager K.M.D.R. Dassanayake that the SPC would be discussing possible delivery schedules with Russia following the decision of the pricing committee.
It was also reported that the Head of the Presidential Task Force for Sri Lanka’s Covid-19 vaccination drive Lalith Weeratunge expressed that there is a possibility of Russia granting the first stock of the Russian vaccine as a donation.
So far, Sri Lanka has only received stocks of the Serum Institute of India’s Oxford Astra-Zeneca “Covishield” vaccine, as the country has received one million doses so far directly from India, of which the first 500,000 doses came as a donation, and 264,000 doses came under the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) COVAX Facility.
A total of 829,220 individuals have received their first dose of the vaccine as of 20 March. Sri Lanka is planning to administer the second dose of the two-dose “Covishield” vaccine after the Sinhala and Tamil New Year. Sri Lanka is awaiting a consignment of 500,000 “Covishield” doses from the Serum Institute and another 600,000 doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to be donated by the Chinese Government.
SL to buy Sputnik V at $ 10 a dose
24 Mar 2021
SL to buy Sputnik V at $ 10 a dose
24 Mar 2021