Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa have held successful discussions on the current coronavirus pandemic.
Ghebreyesus thanked President Rajapaksa for the zoom conversation that took place today on the response to COVID-19.
“We discussed the need to keep implementing public health measures to control transmission,” he Tweeted.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus further said he had stressed the World Health Organization’s commitment to help Sri Lanka overcome challenges in accessing needed vaccines.
Commenting on the discussion, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he believes the Director-General of the WHO will make efforts to fulfil Sri Lanka’s need for 600,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the 2nd dose.
Globally, there is a need for 20 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine for the 2nd dose, he pointed out.
President Rajapaksa said at the meeting it transpired that approval would be given in another 2-3 days for the Chinese manufactured Sinopharm vaccine for emergency use.
“With that approval, Sri Lanka will be able to start vaccinating the public with the current stock of 600,000 Sinopharm doses in hand,” he Tweeted.
The President further said while commending on Sri Lanka’s control of the pandemic during the first wave, Ghebreyesus was hopeful that the current surge in affected persons would be soon brought under control.
President Gotabaya Rajapaksa said he then registered his appreciation of the support the WHO has been providing at regional and Colombo office level. (NewsWire)