Sri Lanka has decided to put a hold on China’s Covid-19 vaccine Sinopharm and import vaccines from India to inoculate its 14 million people, as per media reports.
Cabinet co-spokesman, Dr. Ramesh Pathirana told Daily Mirror that the country has taken this decision as the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm has not finished its phase 3 clinical trials. He added that the country is yet to receive a dossier related to the registration of the Chinese vaccine from China.
The country has planned to import the Serum Institute of India’s AstraZeneca vaccine. “For the time being, we need to go with the AstraZeneca vaccine. The moment we receive full documentation from the Chinese manufacturer we can consider registering it,” Daily Mirror quoted Pathirana as saying.
Recently, the Sri Lankan cabinet had given a green signal to the purchase of 10 million doses of ‘Made in India’ AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine for $52.5 million.
Sri Lanka has so far reported more than 81,000 cases of the novel coronavirus, with 459 deaths. Around 76,000 people have recovered from the virus.