SL to begin administering Sputnik V vaccines

COLOMBO (News1st): Sri Lanka will commence administering the Sputnik V vaccines from tomorrow, state minister Sudarshani Fernandopulle has said. She noted that residents of Gothatuwa in which infections have spiked will be among the first groups to receive the jab. Meanwhile, Dr Rajiva de Silva, an immunologist has said that tests are being carried out to mix vaccines in a bid to minimize the impact caused by delays in receiving the vaccine. "I think that they might adopt a similar mechanism in our country as well. But we cannot do that until we receive the results of such efforts in Japan and European countries," Dr de Silva noted. He pointed out that the AstraZeneca jab contains the chimpanzee adenovirus vaccine vector while the Sputnik jab contains the human adenovirus vaccine vector.