China has offered to donate 600,000 Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccines to Sri Lanka. However,  the Sri Lankan drug regulators are yet to give emergency use approval to the Chinese vaccine, reported Daily Mirror. 

Dr. Palitha Kohona, the Sri Lanka ambassador to China, held talks with the Chinese vice foreign minister on 3 March and said the country has promised another 600,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccines. 

Presently, Sri Lankan regulators have given approval to only two vaccines, Astra-Zeneca and Sputnik V. The delay in approval to Sinopharm caused as the manufacturing firm failed to provide some data sought by the country’s regulators, said Channa Jayasurya, a state minister in Sri Lanka. 

Earlier, India donated one million doses of Covishield AstraZeneca vaccine locally manufactured by the Serum Institute of India, to Sri Lanka. The island country will also receive 1.69 million doses of Covishield from the Covax facilities of the World Health Organization.