Accelerated drive to administer AstraZeneca second dose
COLOMBO – An accelerated drive is underway to administer the second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine in the Colombo and Gampaha districts, with a 24-hour vaccination centre set up at the Viharamahadevi Park in Colombo by the Army on Sunday (Aug 1). The 2nd dose is also being administered in 20 other locations in the two districts.
Online appointments have also been opened for residents in Colombo and Gampaha to secure their second doses via vaccine.covid19.gov.lk, while those who have had the first dose of the vaccine have also been informed via SMS of a date, time and location to get their second dose.
Meanwhile, long queues were seen at the various vaccination centres Sunday, prompting the State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals, Channa Jayasumana to urge the public to remain calm and not crowd centres, assuring the second dose will be available to all those who have got the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine
A stock of 728,460 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, donated by Japan, arrived in Sri Lanka via the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Covax facility on Saturday (July 31) evening, on a special Sri Lankan Airlines flight.
Another stock of AstraZeneca vaccines is scheduled to arrive in Sri Lanka next Saturday (7).
Health officials said the vaccines will be first used to administer the second dose on those who got the AstraZeneca vaccine as the first dose in February-March this year and later given as first doses.
Meanwhile, UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy, noted that with the arrival of the latest consignment, the COVAX Facility has provided Sri Lanka with more than 3.2 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
In a separate development, the WHO office in Sri Lanka on Saturday tweeted a note of caution, saying that the rise in numbers of COVID-19 positive cases was driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant, increased social mixing/mobility, inconsistent public health and social measures (PHSM) and inequitable vaccination.
“Hard-won gains are in jeopardy and health systems are being overwhelmed,” the WHO said.
Sri Lanka recorded 67 COVID-19 related deaths on Sunday, taking Sri Lanka’s Covid-fatality tall total number of deaths in Sri Lanka to 4,508. Of this, 355 have died in the last six days.
-CG/ENCL