US gifts 1.5 million doses of Moderna vaccine to Sri Lanka

The U.S. has donated over 1.5 million doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine to Sri Lanka. These vaccines were delivered through COVAX.

“These vaccines will help Sri Lankans get back to work and to stay healthy, a gift we make in reflection of the long-standing friendship between the United States and Sri Lanka,” said Alaina Teplitz, the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. “Our partnership with the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health, UNICEF, and other global COVAX partners to deliver these vaccines is critical to controlling the pandemic, slowing the emergence of new variants, and helping to restart the global economy.”

The 1.5 million doses delivered to the Sri Lankan Government yesterday are part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to providing equitable global access to safe and effective vaccines, the US Embassy said in a press release.

The Embassy added that the United States has worked closely with Sri Lanka since the pandemic began to protect public health, providing over $8 million in emergency supplies and critical services, plus an in-kind donation of 200 ventilators, to support the Sri Lankan Government’s response to the pandemic. It claimed that this assistance has reached millions of people in all 25 districts and nine provinces of Sri Lanka to control the spread of COVID-19, address the urgent health needs of the Sri Lankan people, mitigate the pandemic’s negative economic impacts, and ultimately save lives.