Sri Lanka to start coronavirus vaccinations for general public from March

Sri Lankan State Minister of Primary Health Care Sudarshini Fernandopulle on Monday said the coronavirus vaccination drive for the general public will begin in the first week of March, starting with people above the age of 60 years.

Sri Lanka began vaccinating its frontline workers late last month after receiving 50,000 free Oxford-AstraZeneca-Covishield vaccines from India.

Fernandopulle said the general public will be inoculated against the disease from next month. She said the drive will start with people over the age of 60 years and people in the workforce aged between 30 and 60 years.

As of now, 1,60,000 frontline workers, including police and military personnel, have been vaccinated so far, Fernandopulle said.

Apart from the vaccine gift from India, a consignment of vaccines would arrive in the island in early March through the COVAX international initiative. Sri Lanka will also import another 3 million vaccine doses from India.

As part of the immunisation drive for the public, 4,000 vaccination centres would be set up throughout the country with 2,000 being operated daily where 300 people could be vaccinated everyday.

So far, Sri Lanka has recorded 356 virus-related deaths and over 69,000 cases.