Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has instructed officials to expedite both imports procedures and administering of COVID-19 vaccines to the public to contain the raging third wave of the pandemic in the country.

The president told the COVID-19 Committee, which meets daily at the Presidential Secretariat, that the maximum number of vaccine shots should be given soon, the President’s Media Division said.

Rajapaksa stressed that it was important to pay special attention to the Western Province, which is largely responsible for the spread of the virus.

He pointed out that the health sector has 600,000 Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccines received from China.

Sinopharm vaccines have been successfully administered to over 55 million people in 51 countries.

He directed the officials to hold discussions with the health authorities of those countries to explore the possibility of administering the vaccine expeditiously.

The second dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine is being given to those who received the first shot. Negotiations are already underway to obtain vaccines from countries where there is an excess of AstraZeneca vaccine.

(SAM)