Aug 23, Colombo: Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said wants to vaccinate all the people in the country and made a special commitment to bring vaccines to Sri Lanka.

“That is why, I made a special commitment to bring in vaccines to Sri Lanka in the recent past. I personally spoke to the Heads of Governments in countries like China and India,” the President said posting a note in his official Facebook page.

“I personally wrote letters to several other Heads of State. Discussions were held with vaccine producing countries through our Foreign Ministry, Ambassadors and High Commissioners. Our officials coordinated with vaccine manufacturing companies,” he said.

“All these efforts were made because I wanted to vaccinate all the people of our country,” he added.

As a result of this effort, the country is now receiving a large number of vaccines that it needs monthly, the President pointed out.

President Rajapaksa noted that initially, Sri Lanka received the AstraZeneca vaccine manufactured in India. Afterwards, they were able to get the Sinopharm vaccine manufactured in China.

However, administration of the vaccine to the public was delayed for about a month due to the delay in getting the vaccine approved by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA), the President noted.

Nevertheless, the Government took measures to administer Sinopharm vaccine continuously since June 8 this year.

“In addition, we have received the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines from the United States, the AstraZeneca vaccines from Japan, and the Sputnik vaccines from Russia, placing us among the countries that administer the highest rates of COVID-19 vaccines to its people,” President Rajapaksa said.