Sri Lanka recieves over 1.5 million COVID-19 vaccines donated by US

Sri Lanka on Friday received over 1.5 million doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine donated by the United States.

The 1,500,100 doses of the vaccine arrived in Sri Lanka on Friday under the dose-sharing mechanism of the COVAX facility, Daily News reported.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is committed to vaccinating as many people as possible to save lives and rebuild the global economy.

"The United States is proud to lead the global fight against COVID-19 by sharing 1.5 million Moderna vaccine doses with our Sri Lankan friends. We are committed to vaccinating as many people as possible to save lives, rebuild the global economy and stop the threat of new variants," he tweeted.

"The Government of Sri Lanka would like to commend the United States for taking the lead in sharing these doses with the people of Sri Lanka", said Minister of Health, Pavithra Wanniarachchi.

"This will add momentum to our ongoing efforts to protect our people from the pandemic through vaccination. The pandemic is not confined to a single country, therefore this kind of mutual support will strengthen the global efforts in combating COVID 19 pandemic", Wanniarachchi added.

According to the data published by the Epidemiology Unit of the Ministry of Health showed that, as of Thursday, more than 51 lakh people have obtained their first shot in the island nation, which has a population of 2.18 crores.

Sri Lanka began its vaccination process in January and has been administering Covishield, Sinopharm, Sputnik and Pfizer vaccines.

( With inputs from ANI )