Sri Lanka vaccinates half a million people in a single day

COLOMBO: AUGUST 10 – Sri Lanka’s health authorities administered the first and second dose of vaccines on nearly 500,000 people in a single day on Monday, leading to a record-breaking number, local media reported here Tuesday.

According to official figures from the health ministry, a total of 490,805 people have been given the vaccines on Monday in several vaccination centers in each district of the country.

Among them, 307,267 received the second dose of Sinopharm vaccines, while 153,958 were vaccinated with the first Sinopharm doses.

In addition, AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines were also administered.

According to the health ministry, the leading vaccine presently being administered across the country is the Sinopharm with over 8.9 million first doses administered and over 2.3 million second doses administered to date.

In addition, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Moderna, and the Sputnik V vaccines have also been administered across the country.

Sri Lanka is in the midst of a large-scale vaccination program as the number of active COVID-19 cases has reached 29,563. The total number of deaths from the virus has reached 5,222.

To date, over 10 million people have been administered the first doses of vaccines with the government aiming to complete inoculating all those above 30 years with the first doses by early September.

-XINHUA