Mar 29, Colombo: China has made arrangements to ship 600,000 doses of its Sinopharm coronavirus vaccine to Sri Lanka on Sunday and it is scheduled to arrive in the island on Wednesday (31).

The stock of COVID-19 vaccines developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) have been delivered to Beijing Capital Airport Sunday evening (28), according to the Chinese embassy.

The consignment is scheduled to arrive at Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on Wednesday (31) morning via a SriLankan Airlines flight.

Sri Lanka’s National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) has approved China’s Sinopharm Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in the island country.

Sri Lanka will be receiving Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine doses as a donation from China.

According to the Sinopharm, a Chinese state-owned company phase three trials of the vaccine had shown that it was 79% effective - lower than that of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.