The United States donated over 100,000 doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka yesterday (August 28).
The consignment of vaccines was handed over to Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella by US Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives Alaina B. Teplitz at her official residence in Colombo yesterday.
These vaccines, delivered through Covax, will help save lives and increase the Covid-19 vaccination coverage in Sri Lanka essential to ending the pandemic, the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said in a press release.
“As the pandemic continues and new variants emerge, it is critical we work together to vaccinate as many people as possible, as quickly as possible,” said Alaina Teplitz, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and Maldives.
“This donation of FDA-approved Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines comes at no cost and represents the United States’ continuing commitment to the health and prosperity of the Sri Lankan people.”
This vaccine delivery is in addition to over 1.5 million Moderna doses donated by the US. to Sri Lanka on July 16.
“As the global leader in public health assistance, the United States has donated $2 billion to the Covax facility, an international initiative accelerating the research, development, and distribution of safe, effective, and high-quality vaccines to countries around the world.
Covax has already delivered 209 million vaccines to 138 countries. The US is its largest single contributor,” the statement added.
Since the pandemic began, the United States has partnered with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, providing over USD 15 million in emergency supplies and critical services, including 200 ventilators. This assistance has reached millions of people in all 25 districts and nine provinces of Sri Lanka to control the spread of Covid-19, address the urgent health needs of the Sri Lankan people, and mitigate the pandemic’s negative economic impacts. “No nation can act alone in the face of global crisis,” the embassy stressed, adding that the US is leading the international response to the pandemic, not only because it is committed to saving lives and restarting the global economy, but because it’s the right thing to do.
“We look forward to continuing our strong partnership with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and the World Health Organization, to combat Covid-19.”
Meanwhile, Minister Rambukwella accepting the consignment of vaccines thanked the support given by the people of US to continue the vaccination drive in Sri Lanka to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. He said it cannot be valued the assistance given by the US during this period and appreciated the joint support extended by everybody to fight against the pandemic.
The Minister said arrangements are being made to fully vaccinate the country’s people by the end of this year. Of the country’s population, we were able to fully vaccinate 25 percent of the people by August 26.