Sri Lanka’s Struggle for COVID-19 Vaccines

The Government of Sri Lanka was elected on the premise that they would replace the “ineffective” Yahapalanya regime with decisive leadership.

The test that will no doubt be the marking sheet for this Government is the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Their ability to see the country past this disaster ensuring minimal loss of life and economic recovery will be their grading curve.

Last month the President announced that the only solution to the COVID-19 pandemic that is raging in Sri Lanka is the vaccine. While there is little opposition to this strategy, with health experts around the world agreeing that vaccinating the local populace is the only way to end the pandemic, progress in this field has been slow and ineffective.

On November 25th 2020 the Minister of Health, Pavithra Wanniarachchi, announced in Parliament that the Government would be signing the COVAX facility agreement. This would ensure a delivery of a minimum of 20% of the necessary vaccine doses to the country.

Despite the urgency of this matter, it was not until the first week of January 2021 that the Cabinet approved the signing of the agreement with COVAX. The question that must be posed to the Minister of Health, and the Government as a whole, is why did it take nearly two months for the agreement to be finalised? This Government…