Sri Lanka sets the pace on vaccinations

Single-day record wins praise from WHO, thanks to supplies from China

Steady supplies of a Chinese-developed COVID-19 vaccine have helped Sri Lanka set a brisk pace in vaccinations, with the island nation even clocking up the record for the most jabs in a single day.

More doses of the vaccine, from Chinese drugmaker Sinopharm, are due to arrive this week. With that batch, the country hopes to ensure that all people aged 30 and above will be jabbed by the end of August, according to the Presidential Secretariat.

The World Health Organization on Friday congratulated the Sri Lankan government for administering more than 500,000 doses the day before, an achievement hailed as a record.

In a statement on Twitter, the WHO praised the government for achieving the milestone.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 515,000 vaccine doses were administered across the country on Thursday. The vaccination rate was equivalent to almost 2.5 per 100 people.

By Sunday, the country had administered more than 12.3 million doses of vaccines, the ministry said. The Sinopharm vaccine accounts for nearly 80 percent of the doses; vaccines from drugmakers AstraZeneca, Modena and Pfizer, as well as Russia's Sputnik V, make up the rest.

Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa was among those commending the nation on the single-day record in vaccinations.

Rajapaksa, in a statement, said he was optimistic that all those over 30 would be vaccinated by the end-August goal, enabling tourism and other activities to resume.

On the record-setting day, 418,494 people received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, with 56,738 getting the second jab of the formula.

By Friday, nearly 7.2 million Sri Lankans had received the first dose of the Sinopharm vaccine, including almost 1.7 million who have gone on to get the final dose.

Last week, Sri Lanka received 1.6 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine as a donation from China. The northern neighbor also donated syringes to help the rollout.

The country has purchased 4 million doses of the Sinopharm vaccine and these will make up the next delivery, according to the Sri Lankan embassy in Beijing.

Rajapaksa said he has extended his sincere appreciation to China for the assistance since the outbreak of the pandemic.

Sri Lanka's Health Minister Pavithra Devi Wanniarachchi said the donation of the 1.6 million doses was the biggest the country had received during the pandemic.

"That is a great help toward mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic, especially to prevent deaths and decrease severe diseases," she said at a ceremony.

Mutual support

"This kind of mutual support will strengthen the global efforts of combating COVID-19. With all your support, we are facing the pandemic with confidence."

Chinese Ambassador to Sri Lanka Qi Zhenhong congratulated Sri Lanka on leading the world in the pace of vaccinations. Qi also praised the convincing scientific research conducted by the University of Sri Jayewardenepura on the high effectiveness of the Sinopharm vaccine against the Delta variant of the coronavirus.

Ravindra P Rannan-Eliya, an executive director and fellow of the Institute of Health in Colombo, said in July: "China has certainly emerged as a credible model in fighting and containing what has come to be the one of the worst pandemics to hit humankind."

H.A. Suraj, headmaster of the Royal Institute International School in Colombo, described the government's move to inoculate teachers as prudent and the Chinese assistance as timely. The school is one of the largest in the country.

Arunava Das in Kolkata, India, contributed to the story.