Sri Lanka on Wednesday received 50,000 doses of Russian Sputnik-V Covid-19 vaccines as part of the deal it had signed for the supply of 7 million vaccines from Russia, media reports say. Early this week, it also received Pfizer vaccines, becoming the first country in South Asia to secure the commercial shipment of Pfizer vaccine. 

Sputnik-V vaccines were flown in by Emirates airlines from Dubai and later stored in the Central Warehousing Complex of State Pharmaceuticals Corporation's (SPC)--the main vaccine procuring firm in Sri Lanka--in Colombo, reported Daily Mirror.
  
The supply of vaccines from Russia has been slowed down recently in the wake of the resurgence of Covid-19 cases in Russia, said Channa Jayasumanna, the Sri Lankan state minister of Production, Supply and Regulation of Pharmaceuticals. He said the manufacturer has been under pressure for meeting the local demand there. 

Significantly, the supply of Covishield to Sri Lanka from the Serum Institute of India was also stopped for the same reason earlier. However, a recent media report said India might resume the export of vaccines to neighborhood countries by the end of July. 

(SAM)