(UTV | COLOMBO) – Health Minister Keheliya Rambukwella yesterday stated that 120,000 Sputnik-V vaccines required to administer the second dose will be received in Sri Lanka next Monday (20).
The doses of vaccines will be used to administer the second dose of vaccine for the people who received the Sputnik V vaccine for the first dose and accordingly all those who received the first dose of the Sputnik-v vaccine in Sri Lanka will be fully vaccinated.
The Sputnik V vaccine was given to 150,000 people in the Kandy District and senior citizens over 60 years of age in that district were given the second dose of 30,000 Sputnik vaccines received on two occasions.
A discussion on the importation, storage, and distribution of drugs was held under the patronage of the Minister of Health Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella at the Ministry Auditorium yesterday (15).
The Minister said that the consignment of Sputnik would be distributed to the people in the Kandy District within three days and that the vaccination would be completed by the end of next week.
The Minister said that by now, half of the country’s population has been fully vaccinated and with the receipt of the Sputnik V vaccine stock, more than 99 per cent of people over the age of 20 in the district will be vaccinated within the next few weeks.
He said that there would be no shortage of essential medicines and that the real need would be identified by adapting to the ever-changing technology and there would be no need to spend unnecessarily on stocks of drugs in vain. The Minister pointed out that a system should be set up to analyze the use of essential drugs and there is no need to store stocks of drugs unnecessarily.
Minister Dr. Keheliya Rambukwella further stated that steps will be taken to manufacture all the drugs required for the country by the end of the next four years under the promotion of local products in line with the “Vision of Prosperity” and that the Ministry of Health will take steps to provide the necessary infrastructure for this purpose.