Colombo, April 30 (Colombo) – Fifteen thousand doses of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccines will arrive in Sri Lanka on May 4, and it will be administered to the public in the Western Province immediately, a senior government source told Daily Mirror yesterday.
Although officials earlier said 200,000 doses would arrive by the end of April, Russia will send further doses only after these 15,000 are administered. Once these doses arrive and are administered to the public, it is only then that Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which manufactures the Sputnik V will give a date to send the further dosages.
Sputnik V vaccines also require two doses per person, similar to the AstraZeneca vaccines. The Daily Mirror learns that the delay in the arrival of the Sputnik V vaccines was due to the labels and descriptions on the vaccine bottles being in the Russian language and not in the English language. Sri Lankan authorities had requested Gamaleya Institute to provide labels in English only after which it would purchase the doses. Sri Lanka is purchasing one vaccine at USD. 9.95.
Meanwhile, a senior official from the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation told Daily Mirror that discussions were still ongoing to secure other vaccination brands from manufacturers, but they were yet to get a concrete response. This includes purchasing the AstraZeneca vaccines from other countries in addition to India. “Our discussions are going on, and we are waiting for a favourable response,” the official said. (Jamila Husain)
