China has promised to provide one million doses of the Chinese Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka on an undisclosed date, in addition to the four million purchased doses of Sinopharm, the other Chinese vaccine, which is expected to arrive at the end of September.
In a tweet on Friday (17), the Chinese Embassy in Sri Lanka stated that the Chinese government had exported 1.8 billion doses of the vaccine to 50 nations by the end of August, and that the donation to Sri Lanka is intended to assist the country's vaccine push develop further.
Sinopharm is currently Sri Lanka's most extensively used COVID-19 vaccine. In Sri Lanka, 10.8 million people have gotten one dose of the vaccine, with 8.9 million fully immunized.
According to one expert, while Sinovac does function, it may not be the best option for Sri Lanka at the moment, considering the country's large supply of Sinopharm.
“Sinovac is no longer a good choice because Sinopharm is far superior in terms of immune protection. This means that, with continued widespread transmission (because, contrary to HE President's Official COVID Strategy, our real strategy has been to live and die! with the virus for months), Sinovac will require boosters earlier, making it more expensive,” Dr Ravindra Rannan-Elilya, Director of the Institute for Health Policy (IHP), wrote on the IHP blog on Friday.
On June 1, the World Health Organization (WHO) certified Sinovac for emergency use, stating that it meets international requirements for safety, efficacy, and manufacture.
Sinovac, a Beijing-based pharmaceutical business, manufactures the vaccine.
Sinovac is an aluminum-hydroxide-adjuvanted, inactivated whole virus vaccine, according to a report issued on March 24 by the WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE).
According to the report, a large phase 3 trial in Brazil found that two doses, administered at 14-day intervals, had an efficacy of 51% (95 percent CI: 36–62%) against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection, 100% (95 percent CI: 17–100%) against severe COVID-19, and 100% (95 percent CI: 56–100%) against hospitalization beginning 14 days after treatment.
The suggested dosage is two doses (0.5 ml) separated by two to four weeks.
On July 16, Sri Lanka's National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) approved the vaccine for emergency use in the country.
Health officials have administered the first dosage of one of the five vaccines currently in use in Sri Lanka to 13,690,202 people, with 10,867,900 receiving both the first and second doses.
According to data released by the health ministry's epidemiology units, 92.7 percent of the population over the age of 30 has been fully vaccinated with both the first and second doses.
120,000 doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine are anticipated in the next week, according to health officials, and will be used to complete the vaccination cycle of people who received the first dose in Kandy.
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