• The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech has also been tested on children below the age of 12
• Zoom meeting with Pfizer this week

By Kelum Bandara   

Sri Lanka will receive 300,000 doses of Pfizer vaccines next month as a commercial purchase and logistical arrangements are currently in progress for vaccination of people with it, a Minister said yesterday.   

It is a vaccine with an efficacy of 95 percent in preventing an infection. The vaccine made by Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech has also been tested on children below the age of 12.   

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana told Daily Mirror his office would hold talks with the authorities of Pfizer this week on the commercial purchase arrangement and logistics for delivery.   He said Pfizer vaccine vials should be stored in ultra-cold freezers, and facilities were available for storage in the country. However, he said there could not be logistical problems in the distribution of the doses countrywide.   “We will use these jabs for people in the western province under a pilot project,” he said.   Sri Lanka’s National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has already cleared this vaccine for emergency use in Sri Lanka.   CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla, as reported in foreign media, said last Thursday that this vaccine is effective against all variants of Covid-19 in the world.