Army Commander receives his COVID-19 vaccine

Head of the National Operations Centre for Prevention of COVID-19 Outbreak (NOCPCO), Chief of Defense Staff and Commander of the Army, General Shavendra Silva, has received his COVID-19 vaccine.

General Silva had his COVID-19 vaccine jab on Sunday at the Colombo Army Hospital after witnessing the vaccination of the Speaker and other senior politicians over the past few days, while over 62,000 frontline troops and over half a million of people of the country have also received their shots.

The Army Commander had put off receiving the vaccine until all his tri service front-liners, vulnerable to infection, were given adequate numbers of vaccines first.

The High Commissioner of India Gopal Baglay, who was instrumental in getting down the stocks of India’s Covishield Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine on a priority basis at the President’s request, together with the Indian High Commission’s Defense Attaché, visited General Silva at the hospital when he received the vaccine.

Minutes after General Silva was inoculated, Army Medical Staff on the directions given by the Commander of the Army began vaccinating a gathering of musicians and artists above 60 years of age, after a request to this effect was made by respective representatives of their associations. Popular artists Janaka Wickremesinghe and Amarasiri Peiris were among them.

The Colombo Army Hospital has also been used to provide the vaccines to Ministers, Parliamentarians, Diplomatic staff members, lawyers, judges, staff members of courts, and religious leaders in the Western Province.