Cabinet grants approval to enter into an agreement to receive the COVID-19 Vaccines through COVAX

COLOMBO (News 1st): Cabinet approval has been granted to sign an agreement with the manufacturer when allocating vaccines through the COVAX facility. COVAX facility is a global initiative that brings together governments and manufacturers to ensure equal distribution among the countries. The production and development of the vaccines for the COVID 19 are being accelerated and ensure the eventual reach to every country in the world to receive the COVID 19 vaccines through this facility. Countries are informed to submit vaccine request applications under two phases to receive the vaccine facility. Part A which included the information regarding the target group, store capacity, and technical information has already been submitted. The second part regarding the receiving of vaccines and signing the compensatory agreement has to be submitted before the 08th of this month. "President has appointed a committee headed by his advisor Lalith Weerathunge to determine the amount we can obtain and the challenges we will face in transporting the vaccine," Foreign Secretary Admiral Prof. Jayanath Colambage said. The Foreign Secretary said the initial report of the committee to the President tomorrow. Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Sajith Premadasa questioned if the government believe it would be sufficient to place complete faith in the COVAX facility? The Opposition Leader was speaking in parliament today. "Under this facility, can we obtain the Pfizer - BioNTech vaccine that has received validation from the World Health Organization. Given that a committee has been appointed on the process of importing the vaccines, what are the measures that have been taken by this committee? Does the government hope to carry out this process by favouring their allies just as they did earlier?" questioned the Opposition Leader.