Health officials revealed that Sri Lanka is set to purchase 900,000 doses of the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine by July 2021.
The Pfizer vaccine was approved on May 7, by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) for emergency use in Sri Lanka.
Prior to purchase,prices will be negotiated by a committee of officials, appointed by the Cabinet.
The Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine and the Pfizer-BionTech vaccine are two of the preliminary vaccines promoted by the World Health Organization (WHO), in order to guard against covid-19. According to the WHO, Pfizer-BionTech has shown an efficacy of 95% against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection. The vaccine is recommended for persons above the age of 16 and needs to be taken in two doses 21 to 28 days apart.
