Sri Lanka’s vaccine roll plan has been hampered by the failure on the part of the Serum Institute of India (SII) to deliver the committed stocks of doses,  Sri Lankan Minister for Supply, Production, and Pharmaceutical Channa Jayasumma said.   

 “The Serum Institute of India committed to supplying 500,000 doses of its AstraZeneca Covishield vaccines on February 21, and similar consignments respectively on March 21 and April 21,” he was quoted as saying by Daily Mirror.

 “We counted on India as the main vaccine supplier for Sri Lanka.  We had signed agreements to procure ten million doses,” he said, adding, “But only, 500, 000 jabs were delivered on time. It means it is only five percent of the committed amount. 

He said the delay was due to the disastrous Covid-19 surge being faced by India, he said. “We fully understand the worsening Covid-19 situation in India,” he added.

 He informed that a batch of Russian SputnikV vaccines was expected to arrive by next week. An agreement with China, too, has been signed for vaccines but there was no confirmation on the delivery date.