The administration of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine commenced today, with the vaccine being given to residents of Colombo-1 to Colombo-15 over the age of 55 years awaiting the second dose of AstraZeneca.

The first dose of AstraZeneca has been administered to 925,242 persons, of which only 384,227 persons have received the second dose as well. This includes 180 persons vaccinated on Monday. The country requires approximately 550,000 doses of AstraZeneca to fully vaccinate persons, but the Pfizer vaccine has been recommended in place of the second dose of AstraZeneca.

According to State Minister of Pharmaceutical Production, Supply and Regulation Prof. Channa Jayasumana, 176,000 doses of the Pfizer vaccine are expected this month.

This is the fourth COVID-19 vaccine used in the country’s COVID-19 immunisation program and the first time a mix-and-match vaccination is being carried out.

The Epidemiology Unit states that 151,873 persons received either the first or second dose of a COVID-19 vaccine on Monday. Among the vaccines administered was the Sinopharm COVID-19 vaccine and 133,215 persons received the first dose while 18,477 persons received the second dose. In total, the first dose of Sinopharm has been administered to 2,064,929 persons and the second dose has been administered to 870,446 persons.

One person received the second dose of the Sputnik V vaccine on Monday, bringing the number of persons to receive the Sputnik V second dose to 14,428. The first dose of the vaccine has been administered to 114,795 persons.

In total, 3,104,966 persons have received the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 1,269,101 persons have received both doses of a vaccine.

934 persons test positive for COVID-19, testing drops to 5,631

45 COVID-19 deaths raise fatalities to 3,313

Protests prohibited due to risk of COVID-19 spread