China will gift Sri Lanka another 500,000 doses of Sinopharm vaccine. This was confirmed by the Foreign Ministry of China to the Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Beijing, Dr. Palitha Kohona on 19 May 2021. Previously, China gifted a batch of 600,000 doses to Sri Lanka which is being used currently in Sri Lanka.
Ambassador Dr. Palitha Kohona expressed his appreciation of this timely assistance of China to Sri Lanka at this critical juncture with the number of Covid-19 cases spiking alarmingly. He emphasised that China, as a true friend, has stepped in again to help Sri Lanka at a time when things were getting very difficult for us due to the pandemic.
The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Beijing will coordinate the air freighting of these 500,000 doses of vaccine to Sri Lanka as soon as they are received.
Further, the Embassy has coordinated the procurement of 14 million doses of vaccine from Sinopharm by the State Pharmaceuticals Corporation at a time supplies are extremely tight due to the exceptionally high local demand and from many other countries.
The first consignment of the 14 million doses of vaccine will be released by Sinopharm soon.