Neither the government nor the Health Ministry has reduced administering COVID-19 vaccine, but some frontline workers have refused to be vaccinated with Covishield vaccine, Deputy Director-General of Health Services Dr. Hemantha Herath said.

He said more than 160,000 frontline health workers have ben jabbed with the Covishield vaccine since January 29.

He said the vaccination process is being continued at the moment.

“We were told that the number of vaccinations administered has been reduced. Initially all frontline workers were vaccinated earlier. There is some percentage of workers who have not come forward to get vaccinated,” he said.

“Taking all these into consideration, the COVID-19 vaccine has been given to many frontline workers who came forward to get it. Others will be vaccinated very soon. 

However, the number of doses has not been reduced by the government or the ministry at this moment,” he said.

Dr. Herath said at the end of the scheduled day, they check the remaining stocks of vaccines in hand and get ready to give them to those who have been prioritized to be given in the second round.(Darshana Sanjeewa Balasuriya)