• Priority to be given to the 490,000 persons who have received AstraZeneca as their first dose

By Sheain Fernandopulle  

A stock of 728,460 doses of the much awaited AstraZeneca vaccines will arrive in Sri Lanka next Saturday, Health Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told Daily Mirror.   

She said these vaccines will arrive through the WHO’s COVAX facility.   

Prority will be give to administer the second doses to the 490,000 people who have received the AstraZeneca as their first doses, she added.   The doses will arrive from Japan through the COVAX facility. This is the first consignment of the 1.4 million doses pledged by Japan last month. The remaining doses will arrive in August.