A senior health officer told Sunday Observer yesterday that there was no delay in receiving the AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan under the WHO’s COVAX facility.
“We have completed the documentation and awaiting the vaccine doses,” the official said adding, “It is a matter of quality checking, packing and dispatching.”
The Japanese Embassy announced recently that the Japanese government was donating 1.45 million doses of Astrazeneca vaccines to Sri Lanka through COVAX.
Nearly 600,000 people who received Astrazeneca as their first dose in March-April are still waiting to receive their second dose. A shortage of the Astrazeneca Covishield vaccine was created after a decision by India to suspend Astrazeneca vaccine exports months ago, to meet a soaring local demand.