Feb 23, Colombo: The Cabinet of Ministers has approved the Cabinet paper submitted by the Acting Minister of Health Prof. Channa Jayasumana for the State Pharmaceutical Corporation of Sri Lanka to purchase 10 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine from the Serum Institute of India for US $ 52.5 million.

The Ministry of Health plans to provide COVID-19 vaccine to 14 million people in the country to protect against the COVID-19 virus.

Accordingly, the proposals submitted by the Acting Minister of Health were approved by the Cabinet of Ministers at its meeting yesterday.

In addition, the State Pharmaceutical Corporation of Sri Lanka has been given Cabinet approval to enter into an agreement with the British AstraZeneca Corporation to purchase 3.5 million doses of Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.

The Cabinet also approved the signing of a Standardized Indemnification Agreement submitted by the COVAX mechanism to expedite the acquisition of Covid-19 vaccine under the COVAX facility.