• Sri Lanka is badly in need of 1.5 million more doses
• Write to Russia for Sputnik V vaccine 

By Kelum Bandara 

Sri Lanka has covered vaccination of almost all the people above 30 in areas considered as COVID-19 hotspots with potential to generate active clusters of patients, a Minister said yesterday.  

State Minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals Prof. Channa Jayasumana told Daily Mirror 750,000 people had been inoculated against COVID-19 yesterday, and had 500,000 more jabs in possession to be used on people in high-risk areas. 

The Minister said Sri Lanka is badly in need of 1.5 million more doses. “We have to give the jabs to at least 2.5 million people. So, we want 1.5 million more doses,” he said. 

As part of moves to fulfil the urgent requirement, he said the government had written to the Russian authorities asking for availability of Sputnik V vaccine. 

“We are ready to purchase Sputnik V vaccine from Russia. We are ready with the money. We wrote to Russia asking about the amount of doses available to be delivered to Sri Lanka,” he said.